Reader question:

“He was a man of the world.” What does that mean exactly?

My comments:

That means, basically, he was very experienced. Pretty old in age, too, perhaps.

Yes, old and experienced as against being young and green and not knowing much of the way with the world – the way in which people go about business and their daily lives.

Yes, experienced as against being innocent.

A man of the world is also man of the worldly world, the earthly world, that is. In other words, he is not completely above the mundane and the commonplace.

And I’m sure you can almost say that a man of the world is a man of the “real world”.

The real world, you see, is not the dream world. In the dream world, everything can be, well, too wonderful for words, as Woody Allen once said in a film. In the real world, all things happen, both the good and the bad.

And someone who is described as a man of the world is probably one who is not naively idealistic. He is instead practical and pragmatic and will do what it takes to win, whatever it takes.

Still, in other words, the man of the world has “been there and done that,” as they say. He is perhaps well travelled, very accomplished and knows a lot of people, etc and so forth.

And you do not want to mess with him. The man of the world can be difficult, nasty and dangerous as well as easygoing, charming and harmless.

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