di di mau

Meaning

Verb

• To leave quickly, hurry away.

Origin

• Borrowed from Vietnamese ("get lost!"). Borrowed into English by American military personnel returning from the Vietnam War, as well as by Vietnamese immigrants; popularized by the movie The Deer Hunter.
• This is an uncommon way to say "Hurry up!" in Vietnamese. The verb đi can be expressed as a command: "Đi đi!" One may even express a sense of urgency with the word mau: "Đi mau đi!" However, Vietnamese speakers tend to use the verbs mau lên, nhanh lên, and vội lên in exactly the way an English speaker would use hurry up.