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To: Sopater
"For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his owne petar" -- Shakespeare, Hamlet III iv.

"Hoist" was in Shakespeare's time the past participles of a verb "to hoise", which meant what "to hoist" does now: to lift. A petard (see under "peter out" for the etymology) was an explosive charge detonated by a slowly burning fuse. If the petard went off prematurely, then the sapper (military engineer; Shakespeare's "enginer") who planted it would be hurled into the air by the explosion. (Compare "up" in "to blow up".) A modern rendition might be: "It's fun to see the engineer blown up with his own bomb."

2 posted on 01/24/2007 11:20:39 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: 2banana
Image:Petard gros 1812.jpg


6 posted on 01/24/2007 11:34:40 AM PST by Plutarch
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To: 2banana
A modern rendition might be: "It's fun to see the engineer blown up with his own bomb."

"It's fun to see a terrorist blown up with his own IED."

16 posted on 01/24/2007 12:24:07 PM PST by magslinger (LOST-My tagline. It's short, and incredibly funny. If you find it please FReepmail Magslinger.)
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