今天檢查學生的作業時 ( 一篇練習全民英檢中高級測驗的文章 )，我驚訝的發現一個從未見過的奇特單字 : 'firstable'。我的學生用這個字來介紹一個觀點，而我很肯定他是想表達 'first of all 首先'。但真正弔詭的是 google 的拼字檢查並未標示有誤...。

When I came to check my student's homework today (an article practicing for a GEPT higher intermediate exam) I was surprised by a strange word I had never seen before: 'firstable'. He was using it to introduce a point, and I was pretty sure he had meant to say 'first of all'. But the really odd thing was that google's spelling checker had not highlighted it as a mistake... 

呃…我心想：我最好檢查一下.....我來自英國，我聽說過一個傳言，有個名為美國的異土之上，那裡充斥著各式各樣奇特的新英語單字。此外，我為自己具批判性思考的能力而感到自豪，我總會反問自己是否可能出錯。所以…我查了一下.....出乎意料之外，'firstable' 這個字出現在urban字典、維基字典、和其它地方。

它開始的確是個錯誤，可能是有人想介紹一些表列的論述時，一時誤聽、誤寫了 'first of all 首先'， （接下來應該是'secondly 其次'）。但是，基於某種原因，它持續被引用了很長一段時間而保留至今，如今可能會被納入英語。

It had indeed started as a mistake - probably someone mishearing then miswriting when wanting to introduce a list of points (next would be 'secondly'). But, somehow, it has stuck around long enough to survive and possibly now enter the English language.

我自己不會使用 'firstable' 這詞 - 對我來說太怪了。文法上也說不通 ( 因為 '-able' 是形容詞字尾，但 'firstable' 顯然是作為副詞使用)。然而這些都不重要。它可能是單字中被創造出來的科學怪人 - 而這就是語言生存和演化的方式。我何德何能阻擋 ? 它也許不被英語考官所接受，也可能不會出現在試卷上 - 但如果大家都在使用它 - 它就可謂是一個好字。

I won't be using 'firstable' - it is just too odd for me. And it doesn't make sense grammatically (as '-able' is an adjective ending, but 'firstable' is clearly being used as an adverb). But none of that matters. It might be a frankenstein's monster of a word - but that is how language lives and evolves. Who am I to stand in the way? It might not be accepted by English examiners, and it probably won't appear on exam papers - but if people are using it - it is good English.