# The Secret Lives of...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-lives-of/249608>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 10, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-lives-of/249608 "2004-06-10T06:09:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-lives-of/249608/1 "2004-06-10T06:09:30Z")

</div>

the cliche book and movie title.

How long has this been going on? It definitely seems to have sped up a bit in the past few years, with movie titles like _Secret Lives of Dentists_. Looking up quickly on IMDB, I get a few other matches and near matches:

“The Secret Lives of Men” (1998)  
“The Secret Life of Us” (2001)  
The Secret Life of Algernon (1997)  
…of Houses (1994)  
…of Girls (1999)

Older movies:

…of Walter Mitty (1947)  
…“of Waldo Kitty” (1975)  
…of Plants (1979)  
…of an American Wife (1968)

…etc. It feels like this borders on cliche. In the current [“Whatcha Reading”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=260406) thread, two people have mentioned a book called _The Secret Lives of Bees_.

So I guess the point of this thread is twofold. First, what are some other movies/books/TV shows/cultural (or culturally-deficient) contributions to the world use this cliche? Second, for the love of Buddha, WHY use this stupid title?