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 expereince,

who is new to a situation.

In the fifteenth 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 eighteenth century,

a greenhorn had the meaning

it has today

- a person who is new in a job.

About one hundred 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 nineteen hundreds.

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.

The Green Revolution is the name

given some years ago to the development

of new kinds of rice and other grains.

The new plants produced

much larger crops.

The Green Revolution

was the result of hard work

by agricultural scientists

who had green thumbs.

Green is also the color

used to describe

the powerful emotion, jealousy.

The green-eyed monster

is not a frightening creature

from outer space.

It is an expression used

about four hundred years ago

by British writer William Shakespeare

in his play "Othello."

It describes the unplesant

feeling a person has when someone

has something he wants.

A young man may suffer from

the green-eyed monster

if his girlfriend begins going out

with someone else.

Or, that green-eyed monster

may affect your friend if you

get a pay raise and she does not.

In most places in the world,

a green light is a signal

to move ahead.

A green light on a traffic signal

means your car can continue on.

In everyday speech,

a green light means approval

to continue with a project.

We want you to know

we have a green light to

continue this series next week.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program,

Words and Their Stories,

was written by Marilyn Christiano.

I'm Warren Scheer.