Mr. Word Man Learns Something New
I've never bothered to dig into the word "petard," as in "hoist on one's own." But the idea of "hoist" always made me think of something mechanical, something pole-ish as it were. But I was everso wrong. It's actually a wall-breaching bomb. And, to Mr. Word Man's great delight, the etymology of the word is from the French for flatulation. Yup. The root of "petard" is a fart.