first off

[AlexAD]

Hello.

I heard this in a conversation, 'First off, they are my favorite band. Second, ... (and here he continues with the explanation)'. As far as I am concerned first off could be replaced with at first without changing in the meaning. And here come my questions:

1. Is it grammatical? (I doubt it... )
2. If 1 is true what is the off then? I mean, which part of speech? (Haven't learned the answer from vocabularies).

I would be grateful if you would correct any mistakes you might find in this message.

Thanks, Alex.

[shannico]

first off - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

It's pretty much the same as for starters.

Hope it helps

[shannico]

2. If 1 is true what is the off then? I mean, which part of speech? (Haven't learned the answer from vocabularies).

I would be grateful if you would correct any mistakes you might find in this message.

Thanks, Alex.[/QUOTE]

Plus I wanted to say to me it sounds like an informal adverbial phrase.
Hope it helps.
Shan

[AlexAD]

Sorry, I just didn't dig deep enough to find this phrase.

[shannico]

No worries!