"Get a life" Uh, Wut?

[Svartalf]

So I was thinking on that expression "get a life". What does it mean? Are we not living already? What are the traits of having a life or not?
Why should a no-lifer get one? Why is that desirable? From what viewpoint?

[laklak]

Well, I'm pro-life, at least when it comes to mine. I'll vociferously remonstrate with anyone trying to take it from me. However, I'm less committed to most other people's lives, and in fact believe some of them (a small minority, admittedly) should be quickly and humanely terminated.

[FBM]

Well, I'm pro-life, at least when it comes to mine. I'll vociferously remonstrate with anyone trying to take it from me. However, I'm less committed to most other people's lives, and in fact believe some of them (a small minority, admittedly) should be quickly and humanely terminated.

Except the "I" is me, of course.

So I was thinking on that expression "get a life". What does it mean? Are we not living already? What are the traits of having a life or not?
Why should a no-lifer get one? Why is that desirable? From what viewpoint?

Given the sub-forum, I'll treat this like a serious language question. If one has few or no friends, no significant social activity outside of work, and so forth, one can say, "I have no life." Really, they mean "no social life." Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on the person. An introvert like me would see this as a good thing, but a more gregarious person wouldn't. Anyway, the command, "Get a life" is an accusation that the listener is a social non-entity. Again, whether or not one takes offense at it depends on whether or not s/he sees having an active social life as a good thing. I'll shut up now.

[Svartalf]

Yep, it's a serious question... I started it tongue in cheek but decided it had serious philosophical potential.

[Tero]

If somone tells you to get s life, you should move to their couch, sit there and produce CO2.

[Hermit]

If one has few or no friends, no significant social activity outside of work, and so forth, one can say, "I have no life." Really, they mean "no social life." Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on the person. An introvert like me would see this as a good thing, but a more gregarious person wouldn't.

Exactly.

Life? It's what you make of it. I was chatting with a 41 year old woman who was an absolute stunner. I kid you not when I say she looked like she was in her early twenties. Even her hands, usually a sure-fire giveaway of one's real age, belied her years. I asked her why she had no partner, and how she had become so competent at fixing other people's computer problems. She smiled and just said: "No life. I have no life." Yet, she was happy enough to lead the "no life" the way she did.

As for me, I have lead a solitary one for as long as I can remember. By the time I was about to turn eleven my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I said: "Not a birthday party." "So, what do you want?" they asked. I mentioned that I saw a book in a shop I'd like to get. They gave me the money for that. My birthday was spent in the lounge, reading an account by the founder of the field of human ethology, Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, of his stay on the Galapagos Islands while a friend of mine, who was a bit of an aspie and as a consequence largely ignored by everyone except his parents, played compositions of his own on the piano. They were of the "Blumen im Maien" variety.

Nothing much has changed since then. Yes, I do like contact with people, but with few exceptions only at some distance. Before I adopted the alias Seraph, I've been a member of other forums with the following aliases: Noone, Hermit, Fringedweller and Recluse. That's just my comfort zone.

[JimC]

The phrase actually means "start behaving like the rest of the tribe, don't rock the boat, don't be an individual, simply do lots of frenetic social activity as expected, enjoy the bread and circuses..."

[Rum]

I've always assumed the term was a self deprecating shrug of the shoulders when one is 'caught' in a particularly nerdy sort of mode, like Hermit's computer geek. I used to use it occasionally after presenting a particularly 'thrilling' set of spreadsheets and graphs to the management team I worked with. It seems to indicate a sort of pride, mixed with a tinge of social embarrassment.

[cronus]

It's a soundfart. Can mean anything depending on context, intent and understandings. One mans 'get a life' is another mans 'drop dead' so to speak.

[Audley Strange]

A barely meaningful derogative normally used as a rebuttal by those who think conversation is a competition and have lost.

[Svartalf]

Interesting views all, please go on.

[pErvinalia]

Pretty much exactly what Jim said.

[/thread]

[Bella Fortuna]

It's a judgment that however you live your life isn't meeting the standard of the other person in whatever sense, or a generic derogatory put-down to suggest that you are boring or that what you enjoy or how you choose to spend your time is of no value.

[laklak]

Whoa, like, you know, geta life, dood. Translation - Wait a moment, something I do not understand has impinged on my consciousness. I have a thought, or I think I have a thought, ostensibly about this impinging situation but am unable to vocalize it in any understandable manner. Do you understand? Ok, got it - you are not behaving as I would prefer you to behave, your actions and/or attitudes are incomprehensible to me. You need to stop behaving in this manner immediately and pattern your behavior after mine. I say this with the greatest respect, of course.

[cronus]

It's sounded a bit fake and wasted for sometime. Gone past its sell by day for most on this side of the pond, except for bankers and estate agents, who've come to realise there's not much 'life to get' anymore.