I've been looking for the etymology of the word greensheet, specifically when used in the context of academia.
I know it's just another way to say "syllabus", but where did the "green" in greentext come from? I've searched Google multiple times using different keywords, including greensheet word etymology, origins of greensheet word, where does the word greensheet come from but am having no luck at all.
In the U.S., the greensheet is the syllabus all college professors will give out or ask students to take note of in the first few days of classes.
Best Answer
I did a bit of a deep web crawl on this, as I've never heard a syllabus called a greensheet. This made me curious as to whether it might be regional.
I saw several uses of the word as a replacement for syllabus (often with syllabus in parenthesis as well). Several of these uses were as old as 2006. I decided to limit my search to anything before 2006 and found a single web page discussing the use of the word greensheet as a synonym for syllabus: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/style.htm. The purpose of the page isn't even to explain the word (it's all about style sheets and only mentions why a syllabus is called a greensheet in passing).
I hit a dead end after this discovery. However, that explanation could very well be the answer. Consider: I went to school on the east coast (at three different schools) and never heard a syllabus called a greensheet. SJSU is on the west coast and uses the term greensheet to refer to a syllabus. Proposition: The word greensheet started either at SJSU or, at least, in that geographical area because the syllabi were/are printed on green paper.