Meteoric Rise

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, how you doing today?

Super, who’s this?

Hi, this is Dave Rush.

I live in Shelbyville, Indiana, but I’m calling from South Bend, Indiana.

Well, oh, you’re on the road? I hope you’re pulled over.

I am.

Okay.

All right, excellent. Well, thanks for calling. How can we help you?

Oh, I just wonder about, occasionally about things that people say and don’t really think them through.

And one of them is a phrase that I’ve heard quite a bit, and when they refer to a celebrity having a meteoric rise.

And I always thought, meteors don’t rise, they plummet.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, like that unnamed star who’s in the headlines these days, and I’m not even going to mention his name.

There’s always one, isn’t there?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that’s one of those expressions that just make you stop and go, huh.

So why a meteor, right?

Why a meteor?

Because it’s not necessary.

You don’t automatically think that’s a sign of success.

He’s like a meteor.

Exactly.

And if you’ve ever seen a meteor crater, meteoric rise doesn’t make any sense.

You’re right.

So this is the kind of thing that you think of when you’re on the road there in that flatland in northern Indiana.

Is that it?

Yeah.

Yeah, I have a lot of thinking time.

I thought about a phrase just today where a foul ball gets hit or a wild pitch gets thrown and someone says, heads up.

And I always thought that was the wrong direction.

True.

True. How many black eyes are a result of people shouting that instead of heads down?

Yeah.

I never thought about that. Oh, man.

I love it. I love it.

That’s great.

Well, we can help you with meteoric rise.

The key here is the word meteoric, right?

Because it can also mean flashing or dazzling like a meteor.

So that’s the idea. The fact that it appears on the scene suddenly.

Yeah, they burn brightly and they move fast, right?

So that’s what people are looking at.

It’s about somebody who just suddenly appears and catches your eye.

So it’s not necessarily about their trajectory so much as their appearance.

Yeah.

Okay.

But it still makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

Yes, indeed.

This meteoric fall.

Yeah, but you know what?

If there’s a meteor heading your way, I don’t think it matters if they say heads up or not.

I think you’re toast.

Yeah.

I never thought of the combination of the two, but you’re right.

All right, Dave.

Well, thanks for calling.

Thank you.

All right.

Take care. Bye-bye.

Take care. Bye.

Bye-bye.

That’s like your gnarly foot theory, Grant.

I just love that expression, that if you look at a word or a phrase too long, it just looks as gnarly as your foot does if you look at your foot for a long time.

You’ve got to take them as they’re given sometimes, right?

Well, yeah, with words and feet.

But the road is lonely, and language is interesting, and things just come to mind.

That’s right.

It’s lonely here, so call us, 877-929-9673.

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