From Pine View Farm

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” (Updated) 2

Sometimes the polite are hoisted on their own petards.

Aside:

Of course, no one these days really knows what a petard is. The only definitions I could find (here’s an example”) seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with hoisting.

Addendum:

See drouse’s comment below. drouse gave me a new perspective on that quotation from Shakespeare.

(Broken tag fixed.)

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2 comments

  1. drouse

    April 20, 2022 at 10:18 am

    Early gunpowder weapons were,to put it mildly,less than reliable. It would happen that the men placing them would go to light the fuse and instead of giving them time to retreat, would just detonate. This would blow them into the air thus hoisting them.

     
  2. Frank

    April 20, 2022 at 10:58 am

    That makes sense. I had not thought of Shakespeare’s “hoist on his own petard” from that angle before!

    Thanks.