Cantor the rising meteor

CURRENT EVENTS

Glenn Thrush and Patrick O'Connor at Politico need to re-read Orwell:

But the GOP’s meteoric star has slipped a bit this month — and his enemies couldn’t be happier.

Astronomers and copy editors should agree that stars cannot slip. My reflex rewrite would read that subject Eric Cantor's "ascent has slowed" or his "rise has been checked," but even that would miss the point. Anything meteoric is by definition brief and, even more to the point, a fall, not a rise. (Incidentally, their story's headline--likely written be a copy editor--got it right: "Budget, Britney dim Cantor's star.")

But Thrush and O'Connor are not the first to forget their astronomy. A "meteoric rise to fame" is quite the well-tongued phrase. Perhaps it is time to bid it goodbye?