green behind the ears (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

Okay. Problem solved. Now, how about the
whatever-one-may-wish-to-call-it, "wash behind one's ears"? I've read
variations of this turn of phrase any number of times and may even
have heard it in a movie or two and it's never made any sense to me.

-Wilson

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 9:31 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: green behind the ears (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks, Bill. I've added these as an update to the Language Log post.
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 6:28 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>>
>> You found "(not yet) dry behind the ears" in 1873.
>>
>> [no title] The Daily Ohio Statesman (Columbus, OH) Thursday, May 09,
>> 1850; Issue 846/759; p 3 col D
>> "Why, you irreclaimable donkey, don't you know the "notice" was an
>> advertisement?  When <i> will </i> you get dry behind the ears? -- <i>
>> Springfield Rep., (Whig.)</i>"
>>
>> And wet behind the ears:
>>
>> [No title] Kansas City Star 1888-07-25; page 2 col 1
>> "They are all statesmen in the "sunflower state," from Senators INGALLS
>> and PLUMB down to the new emigrant who is, figuratively speaking, "still
>> wet behind the ears." "
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> > Subject:      green behind the ears
>> >
>> > Some of you may have noticed Barack Obama use the peculiar
>> > expression "green behind the ears" in the Oct. 7 presidential
>> > debate. I explored the history of the phrase in my Word
>> > Routes column, with a follow-up on Language Log:
>> >
>> > http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1572/
>> > http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=727
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org