Reality - realty

The two nouns reality (pronounced 're-AL-it-y', IPA: /rɪ ˈælɪtɪ/)and realty ('REAL-ty, /ˈriəl tɪ/) are very similar. They should not, however, be confused.

• Reality is 'the state of being real'. What that might mean can keep philosophers busy for a long time. AWE does not propose to examine the concept further.
  • You are advised not to use the colloquial term 'reality TV' to describe shows which many older academic teachers would deny had anything to do with 'reality' as they understand it.
  • Equally, avoid the term 'reality check' in academic writing. All academic writing should check on reality: it is otiose to say that that is what one is doing.
• Realty is now a word now hardly used in Britain, although it was formerly current in legal discussion. In the United States, it has been, since 1916, the usual term for what lawyers in Britain may call 'real property', and everyday language in the UK more commonly knows as 'real estate'. An American realtor ('REAL-tor', /ˈriÉ™l tÉ™r/ is what Britons know as an 'estate agent' - a person or business who trades in land and buildings. "A distinction is made between real property (land and incorporeal hereditaments [= "intangible rights in land"]) and personal property (all other kinds of property)", Law and Martin, 2009.