那個不正經的人
這一層就是核心畫面本身，也是來源資料的字源線索指向的起點。
noun · B2
Someone who is silly — a person who fools about, pulls faces, and is not being serious. Said between friends and family it usually sounds warm, closer to teasing than to a real insult.
傻裡傻氣的人
核心畫面
You can think of the person at the back of the room who cannot sit still — pulling faces, not really listening, enjoying the laugh. Nothing about them is and nothing about them is stupid; they are simply not being serious. Everything the word does grows out of that figure: what that person is (a goof), what that person does with an afternoon (goofing), and the kind of careless slip that comes from being half-elsewhere (a goof, to goof up). The word stays light wherever it goes, which is why people use it about themselves so easily.
可以想成教室後面那個坐不住的人。他扮鬼臉、沒在專心聽、享受大家笑出來的那一刻。他沒有惡意，也不是笨。他就只是不正經。…更多收起
可以想成教室後面那個坐不住的人。他扮鬼臉、沒在專心聽、享受大家笑出來的那一刻。他沒有惡意，也不是笨。他就只是不正經。這個字的每個用法，一種想法是：都從這個人身上長出來。他本身叫 a goof。他一個下午在做的事叫 goofing。他心不在焉時出的那種小差錯，也叫 a goof。整個字的語氣一直很輕。所以人們拿它講自己的時候特別自然。From the word’s history
The supplied source entry says the word is perhaps from dialectal English goff, a foolish clown, and traces it no further with confidence. If that route is right, the silly person is where the word started, and the mistakes are what that person leaves behind.
來源資料寫的是「可能」來自英國方言的 goff（傻呼呼的小丑），再往前就不敢確定。如果這條線成立，可以想成：這個字是從那個小丑開始的，而那些小差錯，是這種人走過留下的痕跡。
Wiktionary entry for goof, supplied in this packet: "Perhaps from dialectal English goff (“foolish clown”), from earlier goffe, in which case further etymology is uncertain."
Three branches
這種人會留下的小差錯
一個人心不在焉的時候，會出的就是這種錯：日期打錯、餐點送錯、小數點點錯位置。所以這一組講的都是「粗心」這個種類的錯，不是能力不足。
verb · B2
To make a silly mistake — usually a small careless one, like typing the wrong number or mixing up a time, rather than a serious failure. Often goof up, meaning to spoil something by getting it wrong.
出錯；弄錯
整段時間都在鬧
這一層不是出錯，而是把那個不正經的人「做起來」：沒有人做錯事，只是一整段時間都沒在做正事。
verb · B2
To spend time playing about and doing silly things instead of doing anything useful.
鬧著玩；打混