Hey Greenhorn!
October 20, 2013
Hey Greenhorn
Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.
Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is also the color of most growing plants.
Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing.
Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished. For example, a “greenhorn” is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the 15th century, a “greenhorn” was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a “greenhorn” was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in battle. By the 18th century, a “greenhorn” had the meaning it has today -- a person who is new in a job.
About 100 years ago, “greenhorn” was a popular expression in the American West. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities back east. The “greenhorn” lacked the skills he would need to live in the hard, rough country.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have “a green thumb.” The expression comes from the early 1900s.
First Lady Michelle Obama joins New Jersey school children to harvest the summer crop from the kitchen garden at the White House in Washington.
A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door “has a green thumb” if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
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