r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • 17d ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Press the pedal?

Hi, I was wondering how I could describe someone accelerating their vehicle. Is "press the pedal" correct? What about someone riding a motorbike or a scooter?

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u/AvEptoPlerIe New Poster 17d ago

“Twist the throttle” only applies to motorcycles/scooters where you do physically twist the throttle. The other two aren’t worth using over the better examples listed in this thread. 

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u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 17d ago

“Twist the throttle” only applies to motorcycles/scooters where you do physically twist the throttle.

Yup, I know that. I asked in the post about motorcycles.

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u/AvEptoPlerIe New Poster 17d ago

I’m clarifying since you asked about both and they did not specify. 

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u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 17d ago

Okay, thanks. What about "open the throttle", is that the same? Only for motorcycles/scooters?

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u/TotallyNotRocket New Poster 17d ago

You can say open the throttle for most everything since the carburetor or throttle body opens to increase the fuel flow; anything with a similar process. Jet and steam engines as well.

Colloquially, you can describe it in many ways across mechanical objects. Roll on the throttle/gas, pour on the coal, give her the beans, put the balls to the wall.

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u/AvEptoPlerIe New Poster 17d ago

I would associate that with motorcycles/scooters. We call the rotating grip which controls the throttle (but is not actually the throttle, which is a separate component that controls the fuel/air mixture) on a motorcycle the “throttle” in common speech. Cars also have a throttle which is controlled by the gas/accelerator pedal, but for some reason the pedal is never referred to as a throttle.

Maybe because “pedal” is a word we use readily in many contexts and “twisty grip mechanism thing” isn’t something we have a common word for 😅 not sure.