To think I may have just hoisted my sister by her own petard?

[FelicityFlops]

My sister just messaged me to ask about feeding people for a buffet next week. I do not live in the UK.
Slightly as a joke I said I would be more than happy to come and help and was told I was welcome :-)
I responded that I would be happy to come over (it will cost around €1k) if her VERY comfy guest bed was available. No response so far.
Did I overstep the mark?

I think "calling her bluff" would've been a better phrase to use?

I like "hoisted by own petard" though and look forward to using it someday!

If the op does spend £1k to visit her sister to help, this can be regarded as a Pyrhhic victory😉

Although I'm definitely working class, we use hoisted by their own petard quite often in this house.

Jesus all this pussy footing around it’s your bloody sister, just book the travel and go!

Life is too fucking short for petards and too hard to be hoisting owt

Oh, I see! I was imagining you were a concert pianist and she was a deep sea welder - I had completely the wrong end of the stick!

Still not entirely sure what her bluff was though? Unless she hates you but pretends not to and you set a cunning trap by offering to help?!

If anyone still cares, a petard is a small bomb that would have been attached a door to blow it open and let attacking forces get in. The fuses were somewhat unreliable, so it was not very safe for the unfortunate bugger with the job of attaching it and he ran the risk of getting blown up.

That’s not what the phrase means and you can’t be the one doing the hoisting anyway, the whole point of it is the petard hoists the person, you don’t hoist them with it!

I have no idea what I'm reading here.

Zero petards and not much in the way of bluffs either. The only bit I do understand are the job titles but I don't see any relevance whatsoever as to why they would be mentioned.

It must be past my bedtime or something.

The replies on here are chef’s kiss

If it helps you put all this in context, she is a bank director and I am a freelance IT anti-financial crime consultant

well you should have put that in the first post really. Instead of leaving everyone confused. Context is everything

Doesn't work in this context. Now, if you had totally not meant the offer, couldn't afford the money to go over, then due to your flippant offer got backed into a corner where you had to go, spend the money, and do all the work, then in that circumstance you could be said to be hoist by your own petard.

I’m lost as well. Didn’t get context from your occupations.
What is happening here?

So this ‘Very comfy bed’ is a reference to feathering your own nests? ( just to add to the archaic phrases).

Two sisters both working within the worlds of finance seek to entertain guests for a price?

nb if it’s a jubilee street party I’d decline and stay at home. 😁

I like "hoisted by own petard" though and look forward to using it someday!

The only person I have ever heard using it, was Jacob Rees-Mogg on the Andrew Neil show a few weeks ago.

Bizarrely, I have heard it a few times since, but it just makes me think of him. The smug, horrible twat, so I can't bear the phrase now.

I don't think it's that unusual between people who clearly live too far away to attend stuff! Except now with zoom etc I find I'm 'attending' many more events!!

Apologies to everyone and thanks for the illumination.
Sadly we belong to the still lightly better-off middle class, so no, she was not asking for money LOL.
I have since been told "doors always open" (sic) - hope I got the sic right!

I have very little idea what’s going on here. All I know that the only person who can boost your sister by her own petard is, well, her.

So the answer to your question is: no.

Oh, you're middle class, op! More context. Not.
This is totally batshit.

We need more info. Like, will you be making any sort of dip?

Have you heard the phrase "when you are in a hole stop digging"?

Hic instead of sic

Has someone been on the sherry ?

Do we win a bun or something if we guess what this is all about?

Also joining the confused ranks. So she's told you she's having a Dinner party, you then said.
'Can I come over and help?
She said 'oh can you?'
You've then said 'ha ha get you, you need to pay for my flights and put me up, hoist by your own petard'.....
🤔

Letting us know she has a BIG important job so that cancels out being a philistine?

Sic for omitting the apostrophe. (Misses point of thread. Entirely).

The Curious Meaning of the Phrase ‘Hoist with One’s Own Petard’

The meaning and origins of a famous Shakespeare phrase

‘Hoist with one’s own petard’.The expression is well-known : it describes someone who has been scuppered by their own schemes, someone who has come a-cropper because of some mischief they intended against others.