tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549088046875609394.post4475154755687161735..comments2023-03-24T16:07:35.617-07:00Comments on Sounding Rhetoric: Why Lebron to Miami Is So Infuriating (To Some)Paul Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00841372871906932597noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549088046875609394.post-50657141007555656992010-07-09T08:27:49.277-07:002010-07-09T08:27:49.277-07:00For anyone else equally fascinated by the idiom &#...For anyone else equally fascinated by the idiom 'hoisted by one's own petard': Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others. Origin: The phrase 'hoist with one's own petar[d]' is often cited as 'hoist by one's own petar[d]'. The two forms mean the same, although the former is strictly a more accurate version of the original source. A petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical wooden boxes. Whatever the shape, the significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder - basically what we would now call a bomb.The device was used by the military forces of all the major European fighting nations by the 16th century. In French and English - petar or petard, and in Spanish and Italian - petardo. The dictionary maker John Florio defined them like this in 1598: "Petardo - a squib or petard of gun powder vsed to burst vp gates or doores with." The French have the word 'péter' - to fart, which it's hard to imagine is unrelated. Petar was part of the everyday language around that time, as in this rather colourful line from Zackary Coke in his work Logick, 1654: "The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your entrances through heavens Portcullis". Once the word is known, 'hoist by your own petard' is easy to fathom. It's nice also to have a definitive source - no less than Shakespeare, who gives the line to Hamlet, 1602: "For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar".[Note: engineers were originally constructors of military engines.]Torbjornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06913815194036482785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549088046875609394.post-55314518477461559692010-07-09T07:24:08.975-07:002010-07-09T07:24:08.975-07:00He had a chance to win a title in where he was. T...He had a chance to win a title in where he was. This desire to win a championship is bullshit, he doesn't have it...did you watch the Celtics series? The spectacle he created was absolute bullshit...he completely shafted his former team and fans...they knew about 3 minutes before the rest of the world did...he wouldn't even make any contact with his hometown team...in my opinion, he is a piece of shit...I hope they never win a title.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04103144610847414977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549088046875609394.post-37440890912465191342010-07-08T22:08:38.070-07:002010-07-08T22:08:38.070-07:00Two silly comments: 1) I always appreciate the phr...Two silly comments: 1) I always appreciate the phrase 'hoisted by their own petard' though I'm not sure what a 'petard' is. American English pseudo-cognates/homophones would get me in trouble. In Spanish, the closest word means 'firework' in English. Wikipedia only confuses me further, calling it 'a small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications'. I can only imagine being 'hoisted' upon one to be a painful experience. 2) If the narrative grammar of the sporting event serves in any way as a representative anecdote for the embedded culture for which this narrative has play, your justification of 1) is an apologist discourse for neoliberal free market capitalism. Maybe? -AHTorbjornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06913815194036482785noreply@blogger.com