Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Real Life |
Real LifeNoun1. The practical world as opposed to the academic world; "a good consultant must have a lot of experience in the real world". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Real life is a phrase used to signify time spent on activities the speaker believes are more important than the addressed has indulged in. However, many speakers use the phrase real life in an ironic sense as a better alternative for their own activities, which may be objectively valued as important.This phrase may be related to the American saying "Get a life!" This is said to have been first uttered by William Shatner on the television show Saturday Night Live, in a comedy sketch where he played himself interacting with a group of Star Trek fanss. The implication in the sketch was that none of the fans had a real life, and needed to move out of their parent's basement, get a job, a girlfriend, and buy a house with a mortgage.
However, many people who are actively involved in those activities admit that they feel some or all of the time that they would be happier without a real life.
RL is an abbreviation for "real life," with the meaning "not on the Internet." For example, one can speak of meeting in RL someone whom one has met in chat or on a message board, or of not being able to use the Internet for a time due to RL problems.
It is often abbreviated to IRL (In Real Life).
It has been objected that the Internet is real life; after all, the people on the other end of the connection are real people with real lives. Some prefer the expression f2f (face to face) for that reason.
See also: quality time
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Real life."
Synonym: Real LifeSynonym: real world (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Real Life |
| Specialty definitions using "real life": conflictzone, copyparty ♦ IRL. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams (Broadcast News; writing credit: James L. Brooks.) I want to live a real life I don't want to dream any longer (Vanilla Sky; writing credit: Alejandro Amenábar; Mateo Gil) In real life I could be that anonymous nerd sitting across from you in chem lab, staring at you so hard (Pump Up the Volume; writing credit: Allan Moyle) Just like in real life. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) It's like real life. There's just enough to make it interesting (eXistenZ; writing credit: David Cronenberg) | |
Lyrics | My dream guy into real life with me,yeaheeyeah (I'm Right here; performing artist: Samantha Mumba) | |
Clever | You are an engineer if you have more friends on the Internet than in real life. (references; author: unknown) Adult Education Topic: Real men ask for directions when lost. Real life testimonials. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | As It Is in Real Life (1909) Real Life Weakest Links (2001) Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies (1985) Real Life (1983) | |
Song Titles | God Tonight (performing artist: Real Life) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Smoking might look cool in the movies, but in real life it stinks!. Credit: CDC. |  | New York City - rich and poor; or, the two Christmas dinners - a scene in Washington Market, sketched from real life. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Edgar Allan Poe | Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so. |
Elbert Hubbard | The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is love, laughter, and work. |
Oscar Wilde | One's only real life is the life one never leads. |
| One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno Concluded | Carroll, Lewis | The very peculiar use, here made of a dead mouse, comes from real life. |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne, here, in New England, than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Lofty walls guarded from all the distractions of real life the mystic Sultana, who had the Crucified for Sultan |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In real life, rabid animals look like they have foam in their mouth because they have more saliva. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expression using "real life": in real life. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
real life | 202 | real life spanking story | 7 |
real life story | 27 | real life sex | 6 |
real life adventure | 17 | real life hero | 6 |
in real life | 17 | real life video | 5 |
real life sex doll | 14 | real life erin brockovich | 4 |
real life sex story | 13 | real life scary story | 4 |
real life doll | 13 | real life 101 | 4 |
real life ghost story | 13 | real life love doll | 4 |
real life silicone love doll | 13 | real life picture | 3 |
real life amateur | 9 | real life monster | 3 |
real life math | 9 | real life web cam | 2 |
real life baby doll | 8 | real life spanking | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "real life"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Bulgarian | в живота (in real life). (various references) | |
French | en réalité (in real life, really). (various references) | |
German | im wirklichen leben (in real life). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 地で行く (to carryinto actual practice, to do for real, to do in real life), 地でいく (to carryinto actual practice, to do for real, to do in real life), 地でゆく (to carryinto actual practice, to do for real, to do in real life), 実像 (one's real life, real image). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | じでいく (to carryinto actual practice, to do for real, to do in real life), じでゆく (to carryinto actual practice, to do for real, to do in real life), じつぞう (one's real life, real image). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ealray ifelay.(various references) | |
Romanian | în realitate (actually, as it is, in real life, in very deed, really). (various references) | |
Russian | действительность (actualities, actuality, matter of fact, real, reality). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Real Life" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: reallife. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-f-i-l-l-r" | |
-1 letter: filaree, leafier. | |
-2 letters: faerie, faille, faller, feller, feriae, ferial, ferlie, filler, liefer, refall, refell, refile, refill, relief. | |
-3 letters: aerie, afire, allee, ariel, farle, fella, feral, feria, filar, filer, fille, flail, flair, flare, fleer, flier, frail, frill, ileal, iller, laree, lifer, refel, rifle, rille. | |
-4 letters: alee, alef, alif, aril, earl, fail, fair, fall, fare, farl. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-e-f-i-l-l-r" | |
+2 letters: alderflies, filterable, fireballer, firewalled, pilferable, refillable. | |
+3 letters: fallaleries, farewelling, fireballers. | |
+4 letters: defibrillate, fertilizable, frenetically, reflectional. | |
+5 letters: caulifloweret, deferentially, defibrillated, defibrillates, inferentially, metalliferous, nonfilterable, nonrefillable, referentially. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
