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From NPR: Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round (To Make Music)

The story tells that Baber--a music writer, create music out of bikes.

BABER: When you first tell people you made a piece of music from bikes, they're not exactly eager to hit play.

What's the meaning of "hit play"?

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Hit the 'play' button on a video/dvd player. –  StoneyB Feb 3 at 3:00
Very useful for my translation. Thanks! –  Iordana Ferent May 15 at 7:06

1 Answer 1

up vote 2 down vote accepted

We "play" a piece of music, eg, on a stereo or mp3 player or similar. "hit play" refers to pushing the "play" button on the device in order to listen to a piece of music. So it means that people don't want to play the music/listen to it.

We also say "hit it!" when we mean to begin something, particularly for a band or performer to begin to perform a song, and we have "hits" meaning popular songs, so this may be why we say "hit play" instead of just "push/press play".

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