Language in Our World

“Time Flies When You’re Having Fun”

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “time flies when you’re having fun”. Whether you’ve used it to describe how an enjoyable event has ended too soon, or as a sarcastic remark out of complete boredom, you’ve used this idiom countless times.

This specific phrase sounds very modern, but it was actually first recorded around 70 BC by Virgil in the “Aeneid”. He wrote “Fugit inreparabile tempus”, which translates to “time is flying never to return”. A proverb in English was then trailed back to Chaucer’s writing called ‘Prologue to the Clerk’s Tale’ and was first documented in the ‘Mayflower Descendant’ written in 1710 . It was then recorded again in a similar manner by Shakespeare in the 1800’s. He wrote “the swiftest hours, as they flew”. Later, Alexander Pope also wrote, “swift fly the years”. Over the years, it was modified to the phrase we know today.

If you think about it, this phrase is not valid simply because time can not actually “fly”. In earlier times, the phrase actually is associated with the physical action of birds flying, and how they are seen one second and gone the next. Today, it is also applied to the idea of events occurring and ending before the person is able to comprehend what happened. This phenomenon usually takes place during happy or enjoyable events, but why is that?

Psychologists that investigated this phenomenon have found that people who have different mental states and perform different activities have different ways of discerning time. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you appreciate and love the event or action you are taking part in, you will be fully focused on that said event. You will be fully engaged and you won’t be worried about how the time is passing. On the other hand, if you are not engaged and would rather do anything but that said activity, time will seem to pass much slower because you are fully aware of the time passing.

Also, in further investigation of time perception, researchers found that pleasing events do not all pass at the same speed. They believe that in order for time to “fly” when you’re having fun, you need to be fixated on accomplishing a specific goal. Why? If you have a goal set and are doing everything in your power to attain it, time will seem to pass faster since you are concentrated on one distinct thing. Further, researchers also discovered that time is perceived dissimilarly in your memories. It’s actually observed completely backwards. The days that passed slowly and were “boring” are just a small glimmer in your memories, while that week long vacation that seemed too short, is etched into your memory and seems like it was forever.

The idiom, “time flies when you’re having fun” has been used for centuries and it can be used in different ways. Through analysis today, researchers have found why time seems to pass quicker when you’re having fun and why time seems to slow when you’re bored. I guess the thing that illustrates how “fun” your life is, is actually how fast time “flies”.