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Comment by conistonwater | Hacker News Reader

I do not think "pouring jet fuel on something", meaning to make it go faster, is a legitimate English idiom.

The idiom “pour/add fuel on/to the fire” means to make something worse. I understood the headline but it caused me to raise my eyebrow. It’s almost a mixed metaphor?

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/add+fuel+to+the+fire

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pour+fuel+on+the+fire

I would have used “turbocharged”, “greatly sped up”, or “significantly accelerated.”

If you’re literally adding fuel to a fire to make it burn hotter/faster, the energy density of jet fuel (basically kerosene) isn’t that much greater than gasoline or many other fuels, but I guess it sounds neat.

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/12184/what-are-...

https://neutrium.net/properties/specific-energy-and-energy-d...

If you really want to get a fire going, use liquid oxygen:

https://youtu.be/sab2Ltm1WcM

Even colloquially x on steroids would work too.

I think you’re right it is a mixed metaphor with mixed attitudes.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jet_fuel

> (slang, uncountable) Strong home-brewed alcoholic drink; moonshine.

I posit that jet fuel is considered very powerful stuff in the general lexicon (even though it's just fancy kerosene.)

The first thing that pops into my head was "Jet fuel can't melt steel brains", which may indicate that I've spent too long on the internet.

The colloquial meaning is "pouring something onto a fire that is even more flammable than what was already burning".

It does seem silly. Jet fuel is kerosene, which is also used in oil lamps. It's a lot less volatile than gasoline.

Yes, the irony here is that (depending on the amount), you can easily douse a fire with jet fuel.

> I do not think "pouring jet fuel on something", meaning to make it go faster, is a legitimate English idiom.

IIRC, it is close to a legitimate Chinese idiom ("add oil").

https://zolimacitymag.com/pop-cantonese-word-of-the-month-%E...

I just poured jet fuel on my brain an besides the awful smell it does not seem to have a large effect. Maybe it takes a few days, so I will leave it on for a while.

In case you wondered how I got access to my brain, this old tool proved helpful: https://www.catawiki.de/l/14535665-trephine-skull-drill

And yes, this was a joke and I do not recommend trying this at home. Ask your trusted surgeon for advice.

This whole subthread reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIlJaSDPaA

Interesting - as I've heard it used regularly in exactly that context, and wouldn't have questioned it otherwise. Then again, I was surprised when someone I knew didn't understand what "poster child" meant.

Yes, that is a weird one. At least it was language that came from the researcher and not some manic headline writer.

We replaced the title with a more representative phrase from the article.

Yeah agreed, it's quite an odd use of language.

We were able to immediately know what they meant, and also know that it didn't look like exactly what they meant. I'd have to read the article to know if language drove brain development, or vice versa.

I didnt know what was meant. I thought they meant it was poison for evolution.

Jet fuel is kerosene, which doesn't flash easily. So this would probably put out any fire. Perhaps that was the idiom they were going for?

Legitimate? Since when were idioms a question of legitimacy?

The only languages which do not change are dead ones. - David Crystal

I suppose it’s more a question of efficacy.

If an idiom obfuscates the intended meaning then it’s not very good. In this case it really does just get in the way because the metaphor doesn’t really make sense...

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