The [[origin]]al [[meaning]] of "mainstream" is "the principal current of a river." Its use as a [[metaphor]]ical reference to popular opinion or taste appeared at least as early as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle Thomas Carlyle]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartor_Resartus Sartor Resartus] in 1831, where he wrote in Chapter VII of "those main currents of what we call Opinion". | The [[origin]]al [[meaning]] of "mainstream" is "the principal current of a river." Its use as a [[metaphor]]ical reference to popular opinion or taste appeared at least as early as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle Thomas Carlyle]'s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartor_Resartus Sartor Resartus] in 1831, where he wrote in Chapter VII of "those main currents of what we call Opinion". |