Fun with phrases: "in a previous life"

[Laurence Horn]

For me it doesn't literally *mean* that, but it's used to express that.  That is, "in a previous life" really does allude, with light irony, to the idea of reincarnation, Bridey Murphy, and so on, even though the user of the expression is only pretending (usually) to believe in past lives.  Along the same lines, we have "in a previous incarnation".  Here are two examples courtesy of Google, from (I assume) non-Buddhist and non-Hindu sources:

In a previous incarnation Julie was a writer and free-lance editor with three published book titles.
Well, in a previous incarnation, some of us used to work in shalford, near a pub called "the parrot".
In a previous incarnation I trained as a Wittgensteinian (at the University of Leeds), got my DPhil from Oxford (working with Michael Dummett), and published...

No transmigration of souls actually assumed, if I'm guessing right.

LH

On Jul 16, 2012, at 1:11 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> This means "at an earlier time in one's life."  My wife has been using this
> since at least the early '90s, if not the late '80s..
>
> A TV weatherman explained today that "in a previous life," about fifteen
> years ago, he owned a small farm.
>
> The earliest I can find in GB:
>
> 1993 in _H.R. 3600, The Health Security Act_ (Washington, D.C.: USGPO,
> 1994) IV 212 (GB snippet, looks real): MR. CONDRON: In a previous life I
> was a congressional aide to your late colleague and a great man, Silvio
> Conte of Massachusetts.
>
> 2000 Jay Hopkins in _Flying_  (July) 59: In a previous life, I served as a
> school consultant for the Onondaga Council on Alcoholism in New York.
>
> JL
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org