# "Meteoric Rise" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377 "2020-11-12T00:23:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/1 "2020-11-12T00:23:38Z")
Why do people refer to a “meteoric rise”? Meteors fall. (Actually, meteor_oids_ fall.) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/2 "2020-11-12T00:26:51Z")
“Meteor” as a latin root is the same place we get “Meteorology” from. It basically referred to anything in the heavens. Some of which rose rapidly. The current usage meaning “space rock” came much later. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/3 "2020-11-12T00:27:50Z")
Meteors move quickly across the sky (people talked about meteors before they knew what they really were, and only knew how they appeared). So when someone’s rise is very quick, it’s meteoric. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/4 "2020-11-12T03:37:45Z")
Bkus Stoopid ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/5 "2020-11-12T03:51:18Z")
For the same reason why you fall head over heels in love, you can’t have you cake and eat it it, too, and why that song ain’t so very far from wrong. English idioms aren’t logical. They usually were coined by a fanciful imagination and people didn’t think being non-literal was any big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/6 "2020-11-12T12:10:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > English idioms aren’t logical. Except in the present case, it is in fact pretty logical. > **[Meteoric - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms](https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/meteoric)** > > Because meteors move through the sky so quickly, we often refer to something moving very fast as meteoric. A newly-popular singer might be said to experience a meteoric rise to the top. (The fall can be meteoric, too.) > Because meteors move through the sky so quickly, we often refer to something moving very fast as _meteoric_ . A newly-popular singer might be said to experience a _meteoric_ rise to the top. (The fall can be _meteoric_ , too.) See for example this aircraft which (one would hope) is not famous for falling from the sky: > **[Gloster Meteor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor)** > > The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft began in 1940, although work on the engines had been under way since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with No. 616 Squadron RAF. The ... ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/7 "2020-11-12T12:31:23Z")
When they enter the atmosphere, they put on a spectacular show, thus the moniker, “shooting stars”. It also happens very rapidly. So a “meteoric rise” is rapid and spectacular in nature. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/8 "2020-11-12T12:32:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > (The fall can be _meteoric_ , too.) When googling “meteoric fall” I cannot find a single hit for this used a metaphor, only used literally for meteors. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/9 "2020-11-12T14:20:28Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > > [@RealityChuck](#): > > > > English idioms aren’t logical. > > Except in the present case, it is in fact pretty logical. But the argument was that it wasn’t and was based upon the assumption that they had to be. You’re pointing out that it is logical, but that doesn’t change the fact that the base assumption is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/10 "2020-11-12T22:57:57Z")
I brought this question up some years ago, and some folks pointed out that many of the meteors we see in meteor showers are _passing through_ our atmosphere without actually _falling_ to earth at all. If a meteor is just passing through, it’s neither rising nor falling, because there’s no up or down in space. Science can be so un-poetic, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteoric-rise/925377/11 "2020-11-13T20:09:45Z")
But “meteoric rise _and_ fall” gets sqillions of hits…