....or not. ("Nature red in tooth and claw!") Archival newspaper photo from the 1960s or 1970s. Where are they now?A phrase I thoroughly dislike: when somebody declares that a person or creature (often a baby) has an "old soul." Everyone adopts a simpery-sententious look while uttering the phrase, but the goal is an aggressive one: to transmit said "sensitive affect" to one's listeners, who are expected to simper likewise and nod their heads. It's an irritating form of coercive New Age moral self-congratulation.
I'm sure I don't have an "old soul"---more likely, it's a non-recyclable brand-new styrofoam one, or else one that's like a distorted xerox image--the kind of thing that eventuates when you accidently move whatever it is you're copying or drag your arm across the scan surface, etc etc etc. Black and smeary, wot?