Add Oil!

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And Grant, I have some words of encouragement for you.

Yes, please.

Let’s have them.

Add oil.

Add oil.

A-D-D space O-I-L.

Exclamation mark.

Add oil.

Yes.

Add oil.

All right.

What am I adding oil to?

Is it to my cooking, to my sore muscles, to my engine?

Well, yeah, metaphorically, you’re adding it to your engine.

It turns out the Oxford English Dictionary added this expression a few years ago, and it noted that it’s from Hong Kong English, meaning expressing encouragement or excitement or support, that it’s similar to go for it, and it’s that same idea of making your engine run even more smoothly.

You know, keep it humming, add oil.

Right, because the oil lubricates things, reduces friction, reduces the amount of heat.

Mm-yeah.

Interesting.

And what do we know about how this got into Hong Kong English?

Well, it comes from a Cantonese expression that has to do specifically with that.

And there’s a similar-sounding Mandarin term that translates the same way, but it comes from Cantonese.

Oh, so it’s that nice interplay between multiple languages in one space.

I love it.

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