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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Green man or person?

108 replies

Tiddybiddy247 · 17/07/2025 20:52

I'm probably going to get crucified for this but I'm asking out of genuine curiosity and here for answers as it were.

Was in town this morning getting ready to cross the road with my toddler and I always say to him "let's wait for the green man" and then we shout "there he is let's go!" And cross the road. This morning another mum arrived next to us and heard me and gave me a kind a dirty look. She turns to her daughter and goes "we need to wait for the green person don't we? " But like with emphasis on the person. I didn't know what to think 🤔 on the one hand she has a point, it could very well be a woman in trousers, but it just doesn't look very feminine... also I've always called it the green man. I suppose I'm terribly old fashioned to be going around assuming genders?

OP posts:

Thread gallery

Borborygmus · 17/07/2025 23:10

FWIW the highway code describes it as a 'green figure':

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians-crossings.html

Rules for pedestrians - Crossings (18 to 30)

Always check that the traffic has stopped before you start to cross or push a pram onto a crossing

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians-crossings.html

PencilsInSpace · 17/07/2025 23:07

The Green Cross Code man says -

Always use the Green Cross Code
Because I won't be there when you cross the road

So he can't be the same man as the one on the pelican crossing.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRUBMBi_lp4

blacksax · 17/07/2025 22:54

T00ManyBooks · 17/07/2025 21:16

Green person here (and yes, we’re in the SW). You call it whatever you want OP, and we’ll do the same. I think ignore the woman trying to make a point.

We also refer to all teddies/animals/ inanimate objects as “she” because the default is male and we’re trying to bring some balance. Read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

You do you. Inanimate objects - fine, although your dc might get a bit of a shock when they start learning other languages and find out they've been calling a load of things by the wrong gender for years.

Teddies and other cuddly toys -why not let the kids decide how to refer to them?

Animals are either male or female. If you see a bull then you are doing your dc a disservice by calling it a she. Same goes for lions, cockerels, rams, peacocks, and any other living creature where there are obvious differences between the sexes.

And other pp's are right - the original Green Cross Code Man was in fact an actual man dressed in green.I was a teenager when that campaign started, and already a feminist. But this - I genuinely can't see what the fuss is all about. No child is going to stand at a crossing waiting for red to change to green and be traumatised because both figures appear to be male.

There are plenty of feminist hills to die on, and this is not one of them.

Optimustime · 17/07/2025 22:45

MissHollysDolly · 17/07/2025 22:01

It’s the green walker in this house 🤣 don’t know why, it’s always been that way. Nothing to do with gender, it’s just always what he’s been called

Ooh that seems sinister. Like the nightwalkers.

Everywhere the greenwalker goes...turns green.

PencilsInSpace · 17/07/2025 22:43

The Ampelmann's hat has always bothered me. How come it has a square top while he is walking but a round top when he stands still?

Finteq · 17/07/2025 22:40

You know you can change your vote???

PencilsInSpace · 17/07/2025 22:40

CharlotteStreetW1 · 17/07/2025 21:43

Meanwhile in Trafalgar Square and Basel...

And in East Berlin ...

HappyNewTaxYear · 17/07/2025 22:38

BallerinaRadio · 17/07/2025 22:11

The look. The emphasising of words.

Totally never happened.

Everything has always happened somewhere, or will do, because people are nuts.

JaninaDuszejko · 17/07/2025 22:35

SaintGermain · 17/07/2025 22:26

As an aside, do schools have Dinner Ladies? Or has that also been hijacked by idiots and they are now called Dinner Persons?

Catering staff presumably?

JaninaDuszejko · 17/07/2025 22:33

CharlotteStreetW1 · 17/07/2025 21:43

Meanwhile in Trafalgar Square and Basel...

I love the UEFA footballers in Basel.

I'd say 'wait for it to turn green'. I wouldn't have given you the side eye though.

I did change the lines in The Magic Faraway Tree so it was Jo who was the cry baby and Bessie was the capable leader. And I alternated the sexes of the animals in Dear Zoo. While little girls are still told they are lying when they say their Mum is a scientist (true story, it happened to DD1) then it's important to push back at gender stereotypes.

Itsnottheheatitsthehumidity · 17/07/2025 22:33

Oh ffs. Some people just need a reason to complain for something that really doesn't have a huge impact on life.

Not to derail but DD had a interest in paganism in her mid-teens and had a small Green Man plaque on her wall.

ConcernedOfClapham · 17/07/2025 22:26

Ukholidaysaregreat · 17/07/2025 20:55

O I was hoping for the original green man. Herne the Hunter. 🌿🌳 Nevermind. As you were.

I was hoping for Green Giant 😒

(ho ho ho)

SaintGermain · 17/07/2025 22:26

As an aside, do schools have Dinner Ladies? Or has that also been hijacked by idiots and they are now called Dinner Persons?

DanceMumTaxi · 17/07/2025 22:25

I’d ignore her OP. She can get in the sea with this performative nonsense.

SaintGermain · 17/07/2025 22:23

It’s not a person, it’s a man.

Government publications acknowledge it as being a Green man.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22green+man%22+pelican+site%3Awww.gov.uk

Ted27 · 17/07/2025 22:22

My local green man

Deathinparadisefan · 17/07/2025 22:21

Heaven forbid your child will want to make a snowman this winter.

2chocolateoranges · 17/07/2025 22:21

It’s always been a green man, always will be!

she’s being ridiculous.

Answeringaquestiontonight · 17/07/2025 22:19

I have sons and I almost always say green person as I am trying to challenge the default male. However, I don’t give other people dirty looks for saying green man.

Zonder · 17/07/2025 22:19

ExpressCheckout · 17/07/2025 21:12

Oldies will remember that the original Green Cross Code Man later became Darth Vader in Star Wars. So it's definitely a man.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Prowse

This. It's a green man because it's the green cross code man.

Jambolaya · 17/07/2025 22:17

Performative, meaningless, bollocks by the other parent.

I say Green Man. If someone else wants to say Green Person, then good for them.

Its totally meaningless either way.

pinkdelight · 17/07/2025 22:13

Course it’s a man! I’ve always thought it’s the same as the green cross code man…