Real life

: This article is about the phrase. For other uses, see Real Life.

The phrase real life is generally used to mean life outside of an environment that is generally seen as fiction or fantasy, such as a movie or MMORPG. It is also sometimes used synonymously with real world to mean one s existence after he or she is done with schooling and is no longer supported by parents.

The phrase is most often used to refer to events that the speaker believes more important than those in which the addressed has indulged. However, many speakers use the phrase real life in an irony sense as a better alternative for their own activities, which may be objectively valued as important.

This phrase may relate to the American saying Get a Life , allegedly popularised by William Shatner on the television show Saturday Night Live in 1987 in a comedy sketch where he played himself interacting with a group of Trekkie. The phrase in the show implied that none of the fans had a real life , and that they needed to move out of their parents basement, get a employment, a girlfriend, and buy a house with a mortgage.

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RL 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 internet forum, or of inability to use the Internet for a time due to RL problems .

In real life often abbreviates to IRL. This produces an amusing counterpoint with IRC. The two abbreviations are often used in contrast with one another in IRC conversations. Some prefer the expression f2f (face to face).

Real Life forms the physical home to the controllers of the avatars and the builders of Second Life.

Some cybernauts use another idiom to convey the concept of real life or in real life : meatspace, which contrasts with the Cyberspace of Internet life.

Alternate definition: An online joke about a fictional thing.

=See also=

*quality time *meatspace *dirt world