from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
Get a life!
imp.
Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person to whom it is
directed has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see {geek}). Often heard
on {Usenet}, esp. as a way of suggesting that the target is taking
some obscure issue of {theology} too seriously. This exhortation was
popularized by William Shatner on a 1987 Saturday Night Live episode
in a speech that ended "Get a life!", but it can be traced back at
least to `Valley Girl' slang in 1983. It was certainly in wide use
among hackers for years before achieving mainstream currency via the
sitcom Get A Life in 1990.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Get a life!
<abuse> Standard way of suggesting that someone has succumbed
to terminal {geek}dom. Often heard on {Usenet}, especially as
a way of suggesting that the target is taking some obscure
issue of {theology} too seriously. This exhortation was
popularised by William Shatner on a "Saturday Night Live"
episode in a speech that ended "Get a *life*!", but some
respondents believe it to have been in use before then. It
was certainly in wide use among hackers for at least five
years before achieving mainstream currency in early 1992.
[{Jargon File}]
(1995-01-18)