There's green as in greenhorn, meaning inexperienced and gullible. Those with a pitch to sell are going to spot a live one—in this case government with dollars practically falling out of its pockets—coming from miles away.

They've got a live one in the crowd, he's scary, he looks dangerous, demon possessed, he doesn't know who he is, he speaks in strange voices.

We've got a live one. Kim Howells burst on to the scene last week with his first foray into university politics as higher education minister. The man best known for labelling the Turner Prize "conceptual bullshit" was not sounding very on-message. In a departure from his prepared speech on the launch of an NUS information campaign for would-be students, Howells started, well, rambling.

"We got a live one here," he said as he speeds up in pursuit of a car.

Live one

Meaning

Noun

Synonyms