Why do they say "He's so green."?

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dustintorch
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13 Jul 2009, 1:29 pm

Why do say this? It's always used in military shows or video games, for somebody who's inexperienced. WHY??

Flismflop
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13 Jul 2009, 1:41 pm

It refers to "greenhorn", a noun of unknown origen. If anyone knows the exact origen of this word, please post it here.

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Janissy
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13 Jul 2009, 1:46 pm

The origin of this is plants. Trees, grass, bushes. The newest twigs, sprigs, branches and blades of grass are the greenest. As they age, they grow steadily browner. The generations who came before us observed plants a lot more closely and carefully than we do and created some slang expressions from observing plants.

SabbraCadabra
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13 Jul 2009, 3:15 pm

Yes, it's plants.

Cut open a fresh tree branch and it's all green on the inside...throw it on the fire and it won't burn as well as a nice old dead one.

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Pascal
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13 Jul 2009, 3:22 pm

'he is so green' means 'he is such a fool'

lower middle class slang

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Hmmmn
Deinonychus

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13 Jul 2009, 4:18 pm

Green generally has connotations of fecundity and youth. In this case it means 'naive'.

Henriksson
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13 Jul 2009, 8:34 pm

Or maybe he just happens to be an alien.

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Henriksson
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13 Jul 2009, 8:38 pm

I'd totally see people going 'he's so green'. Though I'm not sure if he frequents military shows and video games much. Well, he should.

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pakled
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13 Jul 2009, 9:35 pm

I thought 'he's so green' was from The 5th Element....

dustintorch
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13 Jul 2009, 9:41 pm

thanks, the plant thing makes sense.

Pascal
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14 Jul 2009, 4:12 am

Henriksson wrote:

Or maybe he just happens to be an alien.

You get to shoot Aliens and Zombies in videogames....

Their blood is usually green, so they turn green when you fire a whole clip at them....then "he is so green" :eew:

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greenturtle74
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14 Jul 2009, 6:28 pm

They call me green cause I can be cool, and friendly-like... :mrgreen:

Of course, all the above explanations probably describe me too. :wink:

Hmmmn
Deinonychus

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15 Jul 2009, 12:26 am

This thread makes me think of this...

I'm So Green - Can
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBHunxDalLo[/youtube]

and that's a good thing

Prosser
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15 Jul 2009, 11:00 am

Henriksson wrote:

I'd totally see people going 'he's so green'. Though I'm not sure if he frequents military shows and video games much. Well, he should.

ho ho ho

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AnnePande
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15 Jul 2009, 1:40 pm

It's also about being immature, I guess. Immature fruits (apples, tomatoes, strawberries) are green before they mature and turn red.

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Why do they say "He's so green."?