Quentin Letts. Moderately high-profile "journalist".
I've just stumbled across his description of a woman in the public eye as "aged 60 (and counting)". Now, one of the things I tend to just take for granted about anyone's age, indeed most time-related things, is that it is "(and counting)". My age is hem-ha-hem years old (and counting). The amount of time since the Labour party was one of the three most influential parties in British politics is 711 days (and counting). And so on.
The only time when we stop counting with someone's age is when they are dead. At that point, your age becomes a fixed thing; no longer is it "(and counting)".
So if Letts thinks it's something worth noting in others that they are still alive... that suggests a baseline view of the world in which being alive marks you out as different.
Keen minds raised on Buffy will naturally want to know: is he a vampire or a zombie? Zombies have an endless hunger for the brains they lack. So that's quite a promising possibility there. On the other hand, vampires suck the life out of others and have nothing to offer the living.
Vampire or zombie? Too close to call.
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