For English, I think it's equal to a general "go/do it" cheer. E.g., "Let's go!" to cheer for a team, and "You can do it!" when talking to a single person or a few people. And just as shallow or sincere as one may make of it.
Completely agree on the Japanese equivalent, though I feel that indeed has a bit more of a "strive/do your best" sense!
Are there any other phrases that you know with a similar meaning? I moved to NL a bit over a year ago and joined the local tafeltennis club. Often the other members will yell “Sneller!” At me because I play like a disabled oma. In this case, I know they are telling me to go faster, but I wonder if there are other phrases that are being tossed around that I’m missing out on? “Gas erop” sounds familiar. For context, my Dutch is between an A2 and B1.
> I know of several similar idioms in other languages. I don't understand why the article makes it our to be unique.
“Add oil” is such a common phrase for encouragement among Cantonese speakers that it featured prominently in the last two major Hong Kong protests in 2014 and 2019.
As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, the Lennon Wall (protest message board) was called “add oil machine” in 2014. And the “Hong Kong Add Oil” ambigram was extremely popular among protesters in 2019, and is now banned under the National Security Law [1].
I doubt “add oil” in other languages enjoys such a unique cultural status as in Cantonese.
> his first protest-related tattoo, which is an ambigram combining the Chinese characters for “Hong Kong” and “Add oil,” was intended as proof he was not an undercover police officer.
JiaYou doesn't translate well. When I was learning Chinese, sometimes it sounds sarcastic when translated directly.
Like you are joking about how you are going to die from being too busy 忙死 and the speaker responds "add oil". Their actual intent is to say "I believe you can succeed"
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 75.7 ms ] threadReference: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=23455
but yes quite fun
English: "strive!"
Completely agree on the Japanese equivalent, though I feel that indeed has a bit more of a "strive/do your best" sense!
Both imply that you should increase the throttle and go faster in the current bearing. I'm not sure where the lollipop comes from.
Look at the throttle lever(s) on a ship or a plane.
"Put the pedal to the metal" is afaik more idiomatic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqGkxj1pd9Q
Even though "huile" means oil as in "olive oil", it has somewhat related meaning : keep it sliding / keep your life dynamic and cheerful
I know of several similar idioms in other languages. I don't understand why the article makes it our to be unique.
“Add oil” is such a common phrase for encouragement among Cantonese speakers that it featured prominently in the last two major Hong Kong protests in 2014 and 2019.
As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, the Lennon Wall (protest message board) was called “add oil machine” in 2014. And the “Hong Kong Add Oil” ambigram was extremely popular among protesters in 2019, and is now banned under the National Security Law [1].
I doubt “add oil” in other languages enjoys such a unique cultural status as in Cantonese.
[1] https://hongkongfp.com/2021/01/10/skin-in-the-game-hong-kong... :
> his first protest-related tattoo, which is an ambigram combining the Chinese characters for “Hong Kong” and “Add oil,” was intended as proof he was not an undercover police officer.
Like you are joking about how you are going to die from being too busy 忙死 and the speaker responds "add oil". Their actual intent is to say "I believe you can succeed"