Meteoric Rise To Fame
Does anyone know where this phrase comes from, as the main tendency of a meteor, as far as I know, is to plummet downwards!!

Sorry, but it's been bugging me this morning....
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 9:50, 47 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/meteoric
3. Similar to a meteor in speed, brilliance, or brevity: a meteoric rise to fame.
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 9:56, Reply)

fair enough..
..but nothing there about direction, I notice...
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 9:58, Reply)

No
because they are using it to describe speed not direction, they then cunningly use the word "rise" to indicate the direction.

Those trixsy pixies
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:01, Reply)

fair enough again (damn you and your reasonable arguments)
but if you want to compare one fast thing to another fast thing, why not pick a more appropriate fast thing, i.e. one that does, indeed, rise.

Like a rocket. Or vomit. Or my blood pressure.
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:08, Reply)

sounds like a job for
Suzie Dent (or whatever her name is, the bird who knows how to work a dicitonary on Countdown)
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:01, Reply)

I did an online course in dictionary searching on Monday
I bet I don't fare any better than anyone on here.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:09, Reply)

Is it a 26 week course?
Next lesson: 'B'
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:13, Reply)

1. Relating to, or consisting of elements of, both the earth and the heavens. Obs. nonce-use

2 b. fig. Flashing or dazzling like a meteor, transiently or irregularly brilliant; rapid, swift; appearing suddenly.

4. Elevated, lofty. Obs. nonce-use.

1832 S. TURNER Sacr. Hist. I. i. 14 (note) [tr. Diodorus Siculus] The fiery particles ascended to the most meteoric or highest regions [Gk. ].

EAT MY ETYMOLOGY, SUCKER!!!
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:17, Reply)

I'm a coder
don't make me replace you with a script
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:22, Reply)

But why would you do that?

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:23, Reply)

to make you destitute and forced to wander the streets
"Oh are you all cold, wet and hungry. C'mon into my warm dungeo... er house."
\Jarvis
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:33, Reply)

"now I don't want to come over all Mother Theresa...
...Ohhhh GOD!"
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:53, Reply)

USED BY PAEDOS ARGH!

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:22, Reply)

Yup
I used my nonce-sense
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:23, Reply)

I want this T-shirt

(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:40, Reply)

You would be dead in seconds

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:52, Reply)

In which case Phil Collins should wear it more often
This is the trouble: my flatmates and most of my friends in my department would find it hilarious. Unfortunately the chances of a belligerent Daily Mail/Star/Sun/News of the World reader getting on the same tube train as me mean it really wouldn't be worth the risk.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:55, Reply)

I know
It ent worf it
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:55, Reply)

Plus my supervisor is very protective of her young daughter
And I'd rather our professional relationship wasn't tarnished by her suspecting that I was some sort of paedo.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:57, Reply)

By 'supervisor'
Do you mean 'probation officer'?
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:58, Reply)

Shit.
Rumbled.
Alright, I admit it: I am John Venables and David Calvert.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:00, Reply)

We had a BALL on my facebook with that last night
Me and my cousin were ranting on about it, and then our OTHER cosuin sent us the text. We thought she was doing it in earnest and were about to give her loads. She was kidding.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:03, Reply)

I still think my favourite quote so far is
"What do the papers know? They make stuff anyway. I got a text from a mate saying it's true."

It'll be all round ASDA at this rate...
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:06, Reply)

One of my mates was cameraman for that show

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:56, Reply)

HOW DID HE KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE?
Seriously, watching Phil Collins point to his "nonce sense" T-shirt, or watching Richard Blackwood sniff a computer keyboard, I would not have been able to maintain the pretence that it was a serious documentary and would have just had to claim incontinence or something.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:58, Reply)

I want the tshirt for
Free the United Kingdon from Drugs
&
Britain Opposed to Metabiologically Bisterbile Drugs

from memory, I love Chris Morris
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:57, Reply)

Got any
clarky cat?
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:58, Reply)

I told you I ain't got no clarky can
I don't know it, I only got coke.
( djtrialprice, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:04, Reply)

I'd answer back
But I'm genuinely worried what will happen if I get it wrong.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:14, Reply)

Tell him you want real coke this time
Not fucking pepsi.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 11:17, Reply)

well, technically, doesn't a meteor kinda just travel in a singular direction until it impacts with enough speed to stop travelling?
So it's not really "plummeting" as such, but more gliding?
(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:00, Reply)

Yes.

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:05, Reply)

but are we talking
about a meteor in space or one once its entered Earth's atmosphere?
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:09, Reply)

*shrugs*
www.faqs.org/faqs/astronomy/faq/part5/section-29.html
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:12, Reply)

well it'd depend on size I guess, and the speed at which it was travelling.
I mean if it was average - small size and moving kinda slow, I don't think it'd decend as such, more be pulled into our gravitational field. But if it was really really big or really small and travelling really fast, I don't think that it'd fall, it'd just keep going in the same direction until it collides with something.
(Poppet some assembly required., Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:14, Reply)

They're asteroids in space.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:16, Reply)

So less of an issue than haemorrhoids in space?

(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:46, Reply)

lol
www.b3ta.com/questions/letterstheywillneverread/post658107#answers-post-658410
(PsychoChomp, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:17, Reply)

ha
I think we have a winnah
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:18, Reply)

I want to see exactly what he wrote
If it's true.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:20, Reply)

probably something involving the words
sweaty, moist, thrusting and anal cavity
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:33, Reply)

Nah, I bet it was creepier.
"I love you so much it hurts, you're the only thing that keeps my crippling depression and terrible thoughts in check, I love watching you, marry me"
(PsychoChomp, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:39, Reply)

p.s. I love your tattoo,
I got one just like it yesterday, exactly like it.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:44, Reply)

Right above the picture of your face

( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:57, Reply)

See my ting above.

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:18, Reply)

just because
its been used since 1832 doesn't make it any more sensible.
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:31, Reply)

No
But it explains what the blithering nut-jobs were on about.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 10 Mar 2010, 10:52, Reply)