Better to think of 'andar' as movement generally?

[Tom]

Olá,

On a recent visit to Portugal I noticed all the regular buses had “Eu ando a todo o gás” written on them. I thought it can’t mean the bus is walking on gas but rather moving on gas?

Note putting that line through translators comes up with “I’m going full throttle” which I sort of get but I feel like in the context of buses probably isn’t the intended message lol?

Anyway, to the point, the verb ‘andar’ seems to have lots of uses outside of meaning ‘to walk’ and it is perhaps more easy to understand it as meaning to move generally and perhaps metaphorically too?

Am I right or am I not getting it?

[Joseph]

@Tom, “a todo o gás” is an idiom that means full throttle, or full speed. In this context, it’s actually a play on words where the intention is to tell people that the bus is not using regular fuel, but compressed natural gas, a cleaner option. In contexts like this, ‘andar’ definitely expresses movement by any means, not just walking, so that’s right But the verb is quite versatile even beyond that; here’s a detailed Learning Note about it: How to Use the Verb Andar | Practice Portuguese

[Tom]

Thanks for the explanation and the link - interesting to read how versatile andar is and the difference between it and estar.