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To: Enlightened1
as they now hang from their own petard.

???

I'm having trouble visualizing that since a petard is a small bomb. OTOH CNN is a big bomb so maybe it works.

7 posted on 02/19/2017 6:25:58 AM PST by CA_soon_gone
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To: CA_soon_gone

It’s a matter of the common use of the term in Shakespearian times. “Hoisted” in this case simply means to be forced into the air, in this case, by the explosion of one’s own bomb.


12 posted on 02/19/2017 6:31:40 AM PST by Wolfie
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To: CA_soon_gone

Pétard comes from the Middle French péter, to break wind, from the root pet, expulsion of intestinal gas, derived from the Latin peditus, past participle of pedere, to break wind. In modern French, a pétard is a firecracker (and it is the basis for the word for firecracker in several other European languages).


25 posted on 02/19/2017 6:48:34 AM PST by patro
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To: CA_soon_gone

“Shakespeare’s phrase, “hoist with his own petard,” is an idiom that means “to be harmed by ... one’s own trap”, implying that one could be lifted (blown) upward by one’s own bomb, or in other words, be foiled by one’s own plan.”


34 posted on 02/19/2017 7:08:38 AM PST by faucetman (Just the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
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To: CA_soon_gone

He means ‘are now hoist by their own petard’.


40 posted on 02/19/2017 7:24:38 AM PST by tanuki (Left-wing Revolution: show biz for boring people.)
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To: CA_soon_gone
The Readers Straight Dope column gives an explanation of the phrase.

straight dope column

52 posted on 02/19/2017 8:54:13 AM PST by dznutz
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