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  • New Scientist used this term to refer to "metaphors without foundation" (e.g. "hoist with his own petard"). 17 May 2014

    April 22, 2017

  • This leaves me scratching my head. An "engineer hoist with his own petard" (from Hamlet) is a bomb-layer blown up by his own device. How is this without foundation? It seems to me a fruitful metaphor. In fact, the “See also” list at the end of this expression’s Wikipedia entry is full of possibilities:

    Own goal

    Poetic justice

    Irony

    List of inventors killed by their own inventions

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoist_with_his_own_petard

    April 22, 2017