to get a life
36
8.7
- idiom
- Offensive
:
buscarse una vida
- When he spends all day on social media, I just want to tell him to get a life.
- need to get a life
- Oh, get a life
- Hey, get a life
And it's like, OK, keyboard warrior get a life.
- And it's like, OK, keyboard warrior get a life.
Examples
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You need to get a life and realize that this president does not care about America.
Blog text (14) -
Like I said, you lost; time for you to get a life.
Blog text (21) -
Try to get a life, a real life.
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You need to get a life, or at least try enjoying it.
Blog text (23) -
You all need to get a life instead of sitting on here all day posting.
Blog text (24) -
I'm sorry for being harsh, but come on man, get a life!
Blog text (18) -
I just think that we both need to, you know,get a life.
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You guys should get a life and stop being blind fanboys.
Blog text (16) -
It's called "get a life," and if you're living on Twitter, you don't have one.
Blog text (20) -
In the email, Sara told me to 'get a life' and 'leave the Jehovah's Witnesses alone.'
Blog text (2)
How Engaged
7
3.1
- Offensive
36
8.7
3
4.1
728
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'get' (obtain) with 'life' (one's way of living), so learners can roughly infer an idea of acquiring or improving one’s lifestyle; the basic notion of 'have a more interesting life' is partly recoverable from the parts. However, the colloquial imperative force and pragmatic meaning—telling someone to stop being boring/obsessive or to change their behaviour—is idiomatic and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so it requires some exposure.
Etymology
Get a life comes from the clear image of someone needing to get a full life — to stop living only in small, boring routines and start doing real activities, meeting people, or trying new things. So when people say get a life, they mean 'do something more interesting or worthwhile'.