2007-06-22 08:29:00 · 6 answers · asked by drdave 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
A greenhorn is a term that came from ranchers to describe someone that's new to the job and has never roped cattle before. It can be applied to anyone who is inexperienced.
Origin
Goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries and the jewelery manufacturing industry. Some items of decoration were a bit like cameo brooches, only made from horn and inset in to silver frames. The horn was usually decorated with a figure, often a head, and this was impressed in the brown horn by heating the horn to a specific temperature and shaping over a mould. Too high a temperature would result in the horn ending up green, not its original and desired brown. Such an outcome was regularly produced by the apprentices — hence they came to be called greenhorns. The cowboys used the term "tenderfoot" a lot too, which does suggest a young inexperienced animal.
Calling someone 'green' is like new grass meaning they're new or inexperienced.
2007-06-22 08:32:49 · answer #1 · answered by quatt47 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Define Greenhorn
2016-12-11 17:10:09 · answer #2 · answered by reust 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Greenhorn Definition
2016-11-05 05:44:24 · answer #3 · answered by delpiano 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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RE:
Where did the expression 'greenhorn' come from? Similarly used as 'green' to refer to someone as being new.
2015-08-06 03:06:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Comanche leader Cuerno Verde (Green Horn)--with only 50 warriors attacked a well-armed force of more than 500 combatants led by Juan de Anza (junior), Governor of the Province of NM. De Anzas soldiers consisted of Spanish settlers from present-day Arizona and New Mexico, but were mostly Indians from San Juan Pueblo (OkeOwinge) near Española. The battle took place c. 1780 near what is today Pueblo, Colorado. Cuero Verde s serious military miscalculation and inexperience cost him victory in the fight.
2016-01-09 07:12:34 · answer #5 · answered by Juan 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe being green comes from the boating world? Meaning, a person often gets ill their first time on a boat and then can turn the color green until they get their sea legs. That's why new employees on jobs, etc, are called green.
2007-06-22 08:53:01 · answer #6 · answered by curlsinthecity 1 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Yeah. New plant life is green -saplings, shoots etc. A tree will start out from a green shoot, but a mature tree will have brown bark etc. Hope this helps.
2007-06-22 08:43:42 · answer #7 · answered by SKCave 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋