Hoist With His Own Petard

Hoist With His Own Petard Hoist With His Own Petard Hoist With His Own Petard By Maeve Maddox I think Keith Olbermann may have had something to do with popularizing this Shakespearean expression. In July 2005 Olbermann, writing about the London bus bombing, wrote: July 21st may turn out to be the day the terrorists began to blow themselves up - hoist themselves, as the Middle English phrase goes, â€Å"on their own petard.† I cant guess why he called it a Middle English phrase. The expression, meaning blown up by his own bomb, comes from Shakespeares time (1605). By then, Middle English had morphed into Modern English. As recently as Election Eve 2008, Olbermann was still using the phrase: Im trying to give Gov. Palin out there, a couple more seconds to figure out how she managed to get herself, as Shakespeare wrote of people destroyed by their own evil plans, hoist with her own petard.† Keith Olbermann October 31, 2008 Here is how the expression is used in Hamlet (III, iv, 206-208): For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petar, ant shall go hard But I will delve one yard below their mines, And blow them at the moon. Hamlet is talking about his old college chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Theyve been spying on him for the king, and Hamlet suspects they are laying a trap for him. Hes planning his own preà «mptive strike. A petar was an explosive device. It got its name from the French verb pà ªter, which means to break wind. The Old French noun pet means fart. Shakespeare was making one of his earthy puns here. Note that in the original expression, hoist is a verb in the past tense. Writers who want to use the expression correctly need to keep that fact in mind. The hoist of current English usage retains the same meaning, to raise, to lift up, but in modern usage, the past tense form has been regularized to hoisted. Ex. The crane hoisted the girder into place. Commentators who dont know their Shakespeare get it wrong: The amusing context for this interview, was watching Keith Olbermann hoisted on his own petard. Donklephant, March 15, 2008. I mean who are the REAL victims here? CBS News has been hoisted on its own petard Cecelia, commenting on Dan Rather scandal, January 24, 2005. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Has vs. HadAbstract Nouns from Adjectives25 Idioms with Clean