“It’s also a way to encourage people to persevere through other sorts of difficulty,” Jennifer 8. Lee wrote for The Times during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. “It’s a way of expressing sympathy, support and solidarity that ‘Let’s go’ doesn’t quite capture.”

The historical record is spotty, but “add oil” is believed to have first been used at the Macau Grand Prix in the 1960s before seeping into Hong Kong slang. It was also widely used during the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests in 2014, and in 2018 “add oil” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. — Melina

Thank you

Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Remy Tumin helped compile this briefing. Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford wrote the break from the news. Alisha wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.

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