real-time (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Even if Black was using the phrase in semi-technical sense, others aren't.
I just saw a commercial for something called McGladrey that has an actor
saying, "In this business, you have to know what's going on in real time."

Turns out he's playing golf and "in real time" can only mean "as it happens;
right now."

Cf.
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Violence-Threatens-a-Popular-Vacation-Destination-94793264.html
from
last May:

  "The State Department has issued a travel alert for Kingston, which is a
distance away from the key vacation spots of Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho
Rios. Still, many wonder if their beach getaways could be disrupted.

" 'This is why I recommend talking to your booking agent so that you
actually know what's going on, in real time, and what's happening at that
point and time,' said Hird."

In other words, "at that specific time."

JL

On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: real-time (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote
> >> "In reality rather than by means of special effects."  In a feature on
> >> Turner Classic Movies, comedian Lewis Black explains that
> >> Harold Lloyd and others "did their stunts in real time."
>
> Bill Mullins wrote:
> > Stunts that were filmed as performed, rather than created in the
> > darkroom, the stunts were in fact done in "real time" -- that is, they
> > were done at part of the same process as the non-stunt performances were
> > filmed.  If the stunts were created in the dark room, or as part of
> > second unit, they would have been done at a later (or earlier) time, and
> > not in "real time".
>
> If mechanical or pyrotechnic special-effects are used then one may
> still say that the actors "did their stunts in real time." I think
> that pioneering film comedians like Harold Lloyd did use these types
> of special effects.
>
> A statement about whether or not a stunt is "real time" may refer to
> the manipulation of time. As Bill notes this manipulation can be
> performed in a dark room by combining sections of film shot at
> different times. If time is manipulated then the stunt is no longer
> "real time".
>
> For example, if a split-screen is used to record separate shots then
> the stunt would not be designated "real-time".
>
> Another example involves changing the frame-rate of the camera so that
> the action appears faster or slower. Speeding up or slowing down the
> frame rate would allow remarkable stunts but these stunts would not be
> "real time".
>
> I do not know, however, if the comedian Lewis Black was actually using
> the term in this way.
> Garson
>
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