Do you ever feel that a particular word or phrase is especially your own? Or maybe they just have strong memories that bring a smile to your mind when you hear them. ‘Hoist by your own petard’ is such a phrase for me.
One day my Dad asked me to deliver some groceries for him. I had not long since passed my driving test and was still at the stage when I would do any chore that gave me a chance to drive. The car was a Vauxhall Victor station wagon and with the rear door open I loaded the boxes into the back of the car. I was busy and not taking much notice of what was going on around me so I did not see a family friend walk up behind me. I am pretty short so when I had finished I had to stretch up high to bring the door down. The friend behind me could not resist it and stepped forward and tickled me. Of course my reaction was to pull my arms down, (I am very ticklish) but I did not let go of the car door and as the man behind me was taller than me the door hit him on the head very hard. I had not intended to hurt him and did feel rather guilty about how badly he had been hurt. He told me, as he mopped his bloody forehead, not to worry about it after all he said, “I was hoist by my own petard” I had never heard the expression before and asked him to explain what he meant. He told me that it meant to be blown up by ones own bomb. I have had a soft spot for that phase ever since but always take it to mean ‘to be bashed on the head by a station wagon door’.
Yes, I have always thought of this as especially my own, but when I ‘Googled’ it just now I discovered that it was used by Shakespeare who gives the line to Hamlet in 1602
"For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar".
Isn’t it amazing the things one can learn from the Internet.
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