Groovy as a First Programming Language

I am sure that this question has been raised more than once with other languages:

How does Groovy fit as first language to learn?

Same question could be asked for (J)Ruby, no doubt. It's too long ago for myself (yes, I admit that I started professionally with VB 5.0, so what? :)), but I do not see any showstoppers. Let's compare Groovy to other languages (purely subjective)

• vs. C: C is cool for a look under the surface, but, ehm, as first language?
  
• vs. C++: hardcore. Sooo hardcore. But I guess for someone who wants to get (at least) his/her hands dirty, it surely is a worthy choice.
  
• vs. C#: I can't say much there, I do not know the language.
• vs. FORTRAN: hey, don't dismiss that F-word :)
• vs. Smalltalk: Smalltalk still seems to be one of the cleanest OO-language, and using something like Squeak, why not? Problem there is imho the transition to production
• vs. Java: well, tough call. Java has got one big beginners friend: the compiler. I think this outweights the advantage that Groovy the language has over Java. On the other hand, it might be instructive to learn how to test a program the same time as writing the program itself. Also: too much IDE-help might be wrong at the beginning
  

I might test it with a workmate very soon. Have to check that Fortran-Compiler ...