wearing the mantlepiece

[Laurence Horn]

Tonight on CNN around an hour ago a report on the ascendancy of Fred
Thompson, who has rocketed up in the polls for Republican
presidential candidates, although not yet announced, apparently on
the strength of his tough prosecutorial expertise as DA on "Law and
Order", along with his opposition to gun control, abortion, and
same-sex marriage.  The reporter explained that his climb in the
numbers was partly attributable to the fact that nobody else had
taken the conservative mantlepiece.

I checked the wikipedia entry on mantle-wearing--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantle
--and while many capes are featured, there was nary a mantelpiece in
sight.  Very odd.

(Actually, on reflection, the verb might not have been "take" but
"hold the conservative mantelpiece"--but its object was definitely
"the conservative mantelpiece", which curiously has no google hits
yet.)

LH

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org