This Week in the Mercury

Real Gay

Film

Real Gay

True Stories of the Sixth QDoc


Sobering Up

News

Sobering Up

The Downtown Malt Liquor Ban Is in Trouble



  |  

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Cots Vocabulary Lesson of the Day

Posted by Ned Lannamann on Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 3:15 PM

Boy, was I wrong about this one. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Apparently, "petard" is not a kind of leotard. And to "hoist by one's own petard" is not to be given some sort of atomic wedgie.

hoist.jpg

Nope.

In fact, according to the American Heritage Dictionary:

pe-tard n.
1. A small bell-shaped bomb used to breach a gate or wall.
2. A loud firecracker.

And according to Random House:

4. hoist by or with one's own petard, hurt, ruined, or destroyed by the very device or plot one had intended for another.

Well, now I know! You may all carry on with the rest of your day.

 

Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.

Comments (3) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
This reminds me of how in high school my friends and I should to call each other motards (a portmanteau of moron and retard) and then we discovered that that motard is a French term for a police officer on a motorbike.
Posted by Sahar on July 8, 2008 at 4:45 PM · Report
2
@1:

I fail to see the difference in your two definitions.
Posted by DemonJuice on July 8, 2008 at 5:30 PM · Report
3
@1:

motard is simply french for motorcyclist. a motorcycle cop is a motard, but a motard isn't nesc a cop.

i really just need to change my log-in name to "blogtown's pedantic douchebag".
Posted by A cat on July 8, 2008 at 9:59 PM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use