WORD OF THE MONTH
A “newbie” is the newest member to a group. It can be used descriptively or in a more derogatory way. The term started being used in the Vietnam War, and was commonly used in the navy, especially on submarines. In the case of the navy, it is used derogatorily. Newly-arrived sailors were considered useless until they had learned the ropes. After that, they were described as Non-Useful Bodies or N.U.Bs. So, when the acronym was pronounced as a word, it became “Newbie”. Descriptively, the word is not offensive at all, but is used informally. Here are some examples of its usage in each sense: