the.com/old guard
The people who got there first and would prefer you remember that forever.
means The long-established members of a group who hold onto its original values, power, or way of doing things, and tend to resist change.
from Borrowed from French 'vieille garde,' first used for Napoleon's most elite and loyal veteran soldiers — the troops who'd been with him longest and trusted least to budge. The phrase marched into English in the 1800s and settled into general use for any entrenched, change-resistant inner circle, military rank optional.
- origin
- Napoleon's elite veteran imperial guard unit
- now means
- anyone resisting change while holding the keys
- irony
- today's old guard was yesterday's scrappy disruptor
- tactic
- calls new ideas reckless, calls own past self visionary