Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
'green bag' [company-specific]
English answer:
special internal mail service
English term
green bag
The document also includes information about the number of copies that must be made.
"One copy to be sent in green bag to Head Office"
what is this green bag? How should this actually be sent?
thanks for help in advance
| 3 +7 | special internal mail service |
Tony M
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| 5 | green bag |
Charlesp
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| 4 | mail bag |
airmailrpl
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Non-PRO (1): Charlesp
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Responses
special internal mail service
It just so happens that in this particular organization, this internal mail is carried in some kind of 'green bag' — it is typical to use some kind of satchel, pouch, mail-bag etc. in a distinctive colour, to avoid any possibility of confusion with external mail, for example. So the term 'green bag' might be regarded as metonymy for 'the internal mail service'.
| agree |
Jack Doughty
30 mins
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Thanks, Jack!
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| agree |
Sheila Wilson
1 hr
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Thanks, Sheila!
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
5 hrs
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Thanks, Tina!
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| agree |
Václav Pinkava
: the colour coding may indicate priority or type of consignment within the internal mail
9 hrs
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Thanks, Václav! Yes, quite!
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| neutral |
Charlesp
: Probably, though would one really say to their secretary "put this in the special internal mail service" ?
9 hrs
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No of course not! But Asker clearly didn't understand what it meant, so this was just by way of explanation for Asker's benefit.
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: Another possibility that occurs to me is that "green" means "ecological" ie. reusable (saving packaging materials), but this is pure speculation of course.
11 hrs
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Thanks, Charles! Indeed, though I think that is unlikely in this specific context.
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| agree |
AllegroTrans
13 hrs
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Thanks, C!
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| agree |
Zsofia Koszegi-Nagy
2 days 23 hrs
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Thanks, Zsofia!
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Brazil
Technical - Fast - good price - accurate
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
, Portuguese (Variant: Brazilian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, English, and 1 more.
mail bag
| neutral |
Tony M
: Well yes — but you've missed out the key point that this is not just any mail bag, but a special internal service (identified by its green bag).
7 hrs
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the mail bags that we used in my company were always green and they were transported by the Post office as a special service
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| neutral |
Charlesp
: sounds plausable
10 hrs
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thank you
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green bag
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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-07-02 09:29:00 GMT)
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Could be a code for "archiving"
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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-07-02 09:32:33 GMT)
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My point here, which seems to be missed, is that there is absolutely no way to know with any degree of certainty what a green bag is or what happens to a green bag or this particular green bag. A green bag is not a universal code for some particular usage; I doubt the CIA or MI6 uses green bags, but if they did, could you hazard a guess as to what it meant to send something in one of their "green bags"?
| neutral |
Tony M
: Yes, but their mail wouldn't go very far if they simply put it in a green handbag ;-) / Yes of course — but I think Asker wanted us to help her decode it ;-)
3 mins
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i agree, if someone was an outsider. But this code.
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| neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: not wrong; but not too useful to the asker either
2 hrs
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agreed. But actually I don't know what happens to the green bag. I wouldn't presume that it is sent express post, by special courier in a locked container, or otherwise.
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Discussion