Unlike her grandparents, Jane is not green-fingered.

[alpacinou]

Have I used 'green-fingered' correctly and naturally in these sentences?

1. Unlike her grandparents, Jane is not green-fingered.
2. Martha had an interest in green-fingered men.
3. Our garden looks spectacular but to be honest, I can't take credit for it. I'm not green-fingered. My wife, Beth, is green-fingered and has amazing taste.
4. This store is a haven for the green-fingered. It offers an extensive array of gardening tools.
5. John is quite green-fingered. He spends most of his spare time in his back garden.
6. Jack and Lucy don't have a lot in common, but the fact that they're both green-fingered has helped them develop a friendship.

 

[jutfrank]

You're trying to play linguistically on the idiom 'have green fingers'.

Why do you prefer to do that rather than just use 'have green fingers' in each case?

 

[Rover_KE]

They all work for me, but the repetition in #3 is infelicitous.

 

[alpacinou]

You're trying to play linguistically on the idiom 'have green fingers'.

Why do you prefer to do that rather than just use 'have green fingers' in each case?

I like this word better than the idiom. And I learned today that it has its own entry in the dictionary:

green-fingered adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of green-fingered adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

 

[Tarheel]

In American English we say a person has a green thumb. (I guess it's better to be green-fingered. That's four digits to only one. )

 

[Skrej]

Like Tarheel, I'm unfamiliar with green fingers - only green thumbs. As such, none of these would work in AmE. They'd just come across as a mangled attempt to misapply the idiom.

 

[jutfrank]

I like this word better than the idiom. And I learned today that it has its own entry in the dictionary:

Fair enough. But then what do you mean by 'correctly and naturally'?

Those who know the idiom have green fingers would understand what you mean, even if they'd never heard the adjective. I suppose the same would be true for green-thumbed.

 

[Skrej]

Even adjusting for the difference in idiom between fingers and thumbs, all the original sentences leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I think it is occasionally used as a noun, or at least it doesn't bother me as much as an adjective.

His garden was a haven for fellow green-thumbs.