“Green” refers to someone inexperienced in a field, often used for new professionals, interns, or hobbyists. Mistakes due to being green can have serious consequences. The term can also apply to corporate and blue-collar positions, as well as extreme sports.
The term “green” refers to someone who has no experience in a particular field or activity yet. Being green can be applied in many aspects of life, but the term is probably most often used in conjunction with someone who is new to their profession, position or hobby.
If a real time newly hired police officer mishandles a situation, it could be blamed on that officer being green. Later, after the officer gains some experience, the department wouldn’t expect the same kinds of mistakes or misjudgments from the officer. The same can be said of an attorney who has recently passed bar and hasn’t yet handled many cases. Medical interns are another example of people who could be described as green.
Aside from law enforcement, medical and legal professions, going green can be applied to corporate and blue collar positions. A person hired from outside to become a department head might be green, even if he or she has held a similar position elsewhere. This is because each company works differently and has its own policy. An engineer who has just been trained in the use of new machinery will be green on that equipment.
Because being green has more to do with lack of experience, it’s not synonymous with ignorance. The term is also more often applied to situations where being green can have quite significant to very serious ramifications if mistakes are made. These could be life-threatening in the case of an officer or prison guard, or they could be financial in the case of a stockbroker or investor. A young, emerging company that achieves success “overnight” may very well have a green CEO.
More often, young people are referred to as green, although the term could be used jokingly with someone older and abler when a change of location occurs. However, the appropriateness of the term diminishes once a certain amount of general experience has been accumulated through life. Finally, being green can also apply to scuba diving, skydiving, race car driving and other sports or hobbies which can have potentially extreme consequences associated with mistakes. The term is used much less with ‘non-consequential’ hobs such as knitting, drawing or music, although there may be circumstances where it would still apply when the hob is taken to a professional level.
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