# "Not for real-real, just for play-play" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368 "2005-05-11T08:14:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/1 "2005-05-11T08:14:22Z")
What’s the origin of this phrase, which has been popping up here and there lately? Sometimes in the form “Go \, it’s your birthday, not for real-real, just for play-play”. A line from a song, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/2 "2005-05-11T08:42:30Z")
That’d be Foxy Love, from [_Drawn Together_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386180/). Unless it appears there as a reference to something else that I’m too out-of-touch to get. These kids with their hip’n and their hop’n and their pudding pops and all. ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/3 "2005-05-11T12:38:51Z")
I saw that episode. I love “Drawn together”. Is Foxxy really the source of the quote, though? I had the impression she was quoting from somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/4 "2005-05-11T16:05:16Z")
No cite, but it’s definitely older than that. I remember it from middle or elementary school (1990-ish). What I always heard was: go 'head go 'head it’s your birthday not for real though just for play play ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/5 "2005-05-11T16:39:54Z")
I believe the phrase originated before it was picked up by any media source. The development, I’m guessing, goes something like this. – Go, \ – a standard shout of encouragement, perhaps at a school athletic event – It’s your birthday – I don’t know quite how this became part of the shout, but it just adds to the sense of encouragement – “It’s your day!” – Not for real-real; just for play-play – added on for rhyme and meter – reflects the reality that the person being encouraged is not really celebrating a birthday. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/6 "2005-05-11T18:39:12Z")
I don’t know about “real real”, but “play-play” is long-standing slang meaning for “pretend” or “not for real”. As in, “That girl over there is my play-play cousin.” ---
**Author:** ![Rhio2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Rhio2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhio2k)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/7 "2026-01-31T15:48:37Z")
This phrase is older than most of your parents. I was born in 77, and kids in the projects were saying it since I could first remember, around age 7. When we were making something up to be funny and somebody was asking if we were serious, it would go like this: Person 1: For REAL?? Person 2: Nah, for play-play, man. It just started out as early 80’s or pre-80’s black kid lingo. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/8 "2026-01-31T17:46:13Z")
Not the same, but in _Phantom of the Paradise_, the character Beef says about seeing the Phantom “I know real real from drug real…” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/9 "2026-01-31T17:48:04Z")
> [@Rhio2k](#): > > This phrase is older than most of your parents. I was born in 77, and kids in the projects were saying it since I could first remember, around age 7. Welcome to the SDMB! Just FYI, most of our members here have been active on the board for 20+ years, and are in their 50s to 70s (and some even older). A lot of them are the age of _your_ parents. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhio2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Rhio2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhio2k)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/10 "2026-01-31T18:01:40Z")
Huh…then I would think they would have a better clue as to just how old this phrase is. Of course, maybe the people who were active in this topic didn’t grow up in the same areas as the people who originated this phrase? That would explain it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/11 "2026-01-31T18:07:40Z")
> [@Rhio2k](#): > > Of course, maybe the people who were active in this topic didn’t grow up in the same areas as the people who originated this phrase? That would explain it. Very likely so. “It was common where I grew up” does not, of course, mean “it was common _everywhere_,” especially in the pre-Internet era. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-for-real-real-just-for-play-play/303368/12 "2026-01-31T22:10:34Z")
I am almost 70 years old, and I don’t recall ever hearing or reading “real- real” or “play-play” until reading this thread, just now.