Hi, it’s Susie Dentinfang, word expert at the Greenygrey and Countdownto the Full Moon. I noticed that there has been much discussion on this site lately about green and grey in terms of age. So I decided to investigate in our beloved Free Online Dictionary.
Dictionary (Photo credit: noricum)
The Greenygrey of Green
The dictionary shows there are positive and negative uses for green in terms of age.
The positive is ‘Youthful; vigorous’; while the negative is ‘Naive; gullible’.
The Greenygrey of Grey
The dictionary also shows there are positive and negative uses for grey in terms of age.
The positive is ‘Neutral; venerable’; while the negative is ‘Ancient; dull’.
That’s all for now, and I hope you give these definitions the green light, or at least consider them a grey area.
English: Grey and Green Beneath the M1. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hi, it’s Susie Dentinfang, word expert at the Greenygrey and Countdown to the Full Moon. Today we have a great greenygrey synonym to stimulate your hippocampus.
Super Synonym
The wonderful word is ambivalent. Ambivalence is a most greenygrey feeling, as described by our beloved free online dictionary:
The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, object, or idea.
Moreover, ambivalent is also a ten-letter word. And with a little imagination, it could probably be split into two separate words either side of the a, as green and grey are connected by a y for greenygrey: ambiv-a-lent.
Using images is a proven method to memorise things, so to remember ambivalent as a synonym of greenygrey it might be a good idea to associate ambiv with green, and lent with grey.
Y? Yes, that’s right, the y goes with a!
Next time, I hope to bring you vacillation…or maybe equivocation…
Hi, it’s Susie Dentinfang, word expert at the Greenygrey and Countdown to the Full Moon. Although we have made great progress in identifying a place for greenygrey in society, we must remember that it still has no place in any of the great word houses, known as dictionaries, such as Oxford, Collins or even our beloved Free Online Dictionary.
Greenygrey not at Home in a Dictionary
A search on Greenygrey in the Free Online Dictionary now brings up the sad message: Word not found in the Dictionary and Encyclopedia.
So although I have provided many reasons for greenygrey finding a place in the dictionary it is still at the moment out in the cold.
Homeless and Stray Numbers Rising
While the Greenygrey can survive out in the cold, due to its winter coat, it is not so easy for many people and animals.
And with numbers apparently rising in the difficult economic conditions, as winter arrives in the northern hemisphere, we should perhaps remember them.
Great 21st century quotes and phrases adapting oldies:
‘It’s all gone Greenygrey!!’ (Pete Tong)
Hi, it’s Susie Dentinfang; I’m sure you know me by now. In the 21st century it is sometimes difficult to find new things to say, because there has already been so much said. So, many words and phrases adapt what has already been said.
Although the Greenygrey has of course been around for many centuries, we only started writing things down a few years ago. Here’s three that we missed, and think could have looked great in greengrey. Unfortunately, they were too early to be Greenygreyisms.
Oscar Wilde: Nothing to Declare But Genius
In 1882, Oscar Wilde apparently told Customs Control in New York: ‘I have nothing to declare but my genius.’
Swap genius for greenygreyness and we think you’d have a nice little greenygrey quote.
Sixth Sense: I See Dead People
In the film,Sixth Sense, Cole Sear tells Malcolm Crowe: ‘I see dead people… All the time. They’re everywhere.’
Swap dead people for greenygrey, and it’d be a good quote for how us researchers at the Greenygrey sometimes feel!!
1980s Slang: It’s All Gone Pete Tong
In the 1980s there was a famous DJ called Pete Tong, who is still famous, and his surname became rhyming slang for wrong, coining the phrase ‘It’s all gone Pete Tong‘.
At the Greenygrey we don’t really want to be seen negatively, but we like a sunny blue sky day as much as anybody, so when the clouds roll in to end a clear morning, or during a particularly lengthy period of greenygreyness, we think it is justifiable to exclaim: ”It’s all gone Greenygrey’.
Recycling Advert: The Possibilities are Endless
We asked Marc Latham, who was with us at the start of our publishing career on this website, what he now thought of the Greenygrey.
He said that at the start he thought we had a limited shelf life, but now he thinks that by recycling ideas and topics the possibilites are endless (can you spot the greenygrey in this recylcing video that we recycled this last section into?):
The Grey half of the Greenygrey is most definitely a Grey area, while combined with Green it is two-sided.
In this blog I will be analysing and discussing the ‘grey area’; and putting forward a hypothesis that the grey area should have its status upgraded to a ‘greenygrey area’.
This is indeed a paradigm shift in the ‘grey area’ field, so I do not expect my theory to be accepted straight away. Further research may be needed.
Grey Area Definition
The Free Online Dictionary, available from the latter two links above, defines a grey area as:
1. (Sociology) (in Britain) a region in which unemployment is relatively high.
2. an area or part of something existing between two extremes and having mixed characteristics of both. 3. an area, situation, etc., lacking clearly defined characteristics.
Grey Area Relevance
It seems to me that the second definition is the most relevant for our work at the Greenygrey, with the Greenygrey made up of two colours, if not extremes.
Considering that a grey area is between ‘two extremes’, would it not be more realistic to think that some of them survived into the middle, and swirled around like a greenygrey fog.
mistYmuse 