2

Say you dedicate your life to science, have an university degree in Physics, and been working in the field for the last 10 years.

How would you say that you are living a professional life as a scientist?

I think of three different ways, but I think they are subtly different:

  1. "living the life of a scientist" - It feel to me that I'm living another scientist's life, not mine.
  2. "living the scientist's life" - I think this is the correct one.
  3. "living the scientist life" - Is the same as number 2?

Or there are other ways to express this?

Thanks!

Improve this question
8
  • 1
    What does "the life of a scientist" mean to you? By and large, I'd have thought scientists live the same kind of lives as most other people. But if you and your audience / readers understand anything meaningful from it, the standard format is to live the life of a scientist.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 26 at 17:32
  • 1
    A life where you are always asking questions about nature and how the universe works and where you get paid for it.
    – dsp-fan
    Commented Jun 26 at 17:34
  • 1
    That could be a philosopher, a writer, or an Internet "influencer". But perhaps to live a life of scientific inquiry would work better.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 26 at 17:38
  • 1
    I kinda doubt many of the people we categorize as professional scientists actually think of themselves as being paid to "ask questions about nature and how the universe works" (they're mostly paid to produce things like vaccines and electronic gadgets, imho, since that's where the money is). But like I say, if "the life of a scientist" means what you want to you, it's a well-established construction. But whereas you might have to clarify what you mean by "scientist", I'd have thought everyone would understand "scientific inquiry" well enough in context.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 26 at 17:48
  • 1
    For science I think it'd be more likely to hear someone say "Living that grad student lifestyle" or "living the postdoc life" or "enjoying the tenured lifestyle", since the difference in experience between stages are so different
    – Kaia
    Commented Jun 27 at 23:11

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

  1. "Living the life of a [scientist]" (or whatever) can sometimes suggest that you are not actually part of that profession or group, but you just live like you are. For example, it is sometimes said of people that they "live the life of a student" to mean that they have not yet embraced adulthood and are still living as a stereotypical student might, not that they are actually still in education. If you are a scientist then you "have the life of a scientist"... once again, whatever that might mean. If your audience is scientists then they might understand, but I couldn't imagine what that entails. Do you drink out of pipettes? :)

  2. "living the scientist's life" could be fine - again, if your audience appreciates what "the scientist's life" is. If you used the indefinite article and said you are living "a scientist's life" then you could have the opportunity to elaborate on what that means to you.

  3. "living the scientist life" also could be fine in the right context. I'm always seeing social media posts from people at work with captions like "teacher life" or whatever, and the photo is the context - you're meant to see what's going on in the picture and take that as an example of what 'teacher life' is. Without that, you're still reliant on your audience knowing what you mean, unless you go on to explain that.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .