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In the short Nero in a Santa outfit sings a "Jingle Bells" with some rather
casual lyrics.

> Hashire sori yo, kaze no you ni, tsukimihara wo, padoru padoru

The lyric is a song of this
[clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkWk0Nq5GjI) (for the full clip, [click
here](https://youtu.be/nZxChjukSlU)). The song sounds like a "Jingle Bells",
but the subs don't seem to match up with the spoken dialogue ("Laughing all
the way" as a translation for "padoru padoru").

I have searched on [Know Your Meme](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/padoru#fn1),
but I couldn't get the meaning of "padoru" from the lyrics. I have also tried
google translate, and this is what I got:

> Peeling as Tsukurei Sled Like a cold

What is the meaning of "padoru" in the context the short or song?


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japanese-language culture meme fate-extra
What does "padoru padoru" mean?


I've actually questioned this myself in the past, here's what I've basically
found so far

After digging for a while on Japanese Q&A sites and forums, most people seemed
to have concluded that it's referring to a "Paddle", as in an implement to
whip the reindeer with.

However like the Western community, they have about as much of an idea as we
do on what it's actually supposed to mean as I don't think there's even been
an official comment on its meaning, there's even a difference between how
people think it's supposed to be written, as パドル or パドる, the difference being
the later is a verb and the former being just a noun.

Either way, this song is completely made up, it's just for TYPE-MOON ACE, so
it could just as easily be utter nonsense gibberish to fill in the tune.

* * *

To add more context, here's a thread about this: [http://フェイト-fate-
grandorder攻略速報.com/lite/archives/50387834/comments/5642764/](http://%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88-fate-
grandorder%E6%94%BB%E7%95%A5%E9%80%9F%E5%A0%B1.com/lite/archives/50387834/comments/5642764/)

The OP opens up asking what the Padoru (パドル) part means and some correct him
that it's normally パドる, some say otherwise, however as far as I can see, パドる
is more a widely accepted way of writing it, with [pixiv
dic](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BF)
and many YouTube videos seeming to have this spelling.

Post #5 on the thread sums it up kinda well:

> 「パドル」ではなくて「パドる」であって、パドる＝パドリング するってことなんだろうと解釈してた
>
> It's not the noun "Paddle", it's the verb "Paddle", as in the act of
> Paddling, or at least that's how I interpreted it.


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[![This is, I think, the actual meaning of the first two verses
](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sArE.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2sArE.jpg)

This is, I think, the actual meaning of the first two verses. "Padoru padoru"
could well be onomatopoeic if (if she is running) or considering these are the
actual two verses of the Japanese adaptation from the "jingle bells" song
about the travel of Santa on his sled, it could be also Nero singing about
paddling on a sled while moving like the wind


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According to [this official
translation](https://www.reddit.com/r/grandorder/comments/9x9v79/padoru_official_eng_translation_padoru_2x_becomes/)
"padoru" means "wading".

[code]

    Dashing through the snow, 
    in a one horse open sleigh, 
    together we wade through, 
    Tsukimihara U.!
    
[/code]

"Paddle paddle" [could refer
to](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/83336/14431) using
[hagoita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoita) paddles in
[hanetsuki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanetsuki) (Japanese badminton), a
traditional Japanese New Year's game often played by girls.


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This all probably bogs down to Nero's whimsical nature and "padoru" is just
some mumble jumbo that took on a life of its own as a meme. As some may not be
aware the Saber-class servant Nero Claudius is a bad, off-key singer, much
like the Lancer-class Elisabeth Bathory.

Nero herself has no particular skills or feats that would qualify her to be a
Saber class servant and only has any sword skills as a [direct
result](https://www.tmdict.com/book/#fate-extra-material) of her Imperial
Privilege skill.

Nero's feats in bad singing is [derived from](http://www.factfiend.com/nero-
bad-singer-audience-pretend-dead/) historical fact. Nero's off-key singing in
the Type Moon Ace Fate/Extra short is a direct play off of this.

The [so-called](http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/jingleb.html)
original wording of the "Jingle Bells" lyrics go something like:

> 走れそりよ 風のように 雪の中を 軽く早く (かるくはやく, karuku hayaku, more or less with gentle
> swiftness)

No official explaination has been provided in canonical material, but a
certain FGO Summer racing even, Nero is [seen and
heard](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XmQJN.jpg) singing a similar song, but with
roses (bara/バラ/ばら) in place of certain words for no explained reason. "Bara"
and the "Pado" in "padoru/パドる" use katakana, normally used for foreign (loan)
words, instead of hiragana, normally used for standard Japanese words.

Rose in Japanese is written as 薔薇 (ばら), which is notorious for how hard it is
to remember, so it is typically spelled out using kana as バラ.

A characteristic in Japanese that is not well understood or articulated is how
the Japanese use katakana and hiragana as a literary device. It's not easy to
articulate the nuisance if something such as an foreign accent or emphasis on
certain words in Japanese writing as there are set pronunciations for each
character. The nuisance of using katakana for a name can express the
foreignness of the name or boldness) harshness of it's pronunciation or tone,
akin to using UPPERCASE vs. lowercase can put emphasis or create the nuisance
of shouting in written dialog. The lack of kanji in written text can also
convert the simplicity of one's character or dialog. For an example, to convey
the nuance ifca child talking vs that of an adult, a child speaking might only
use hiragana, while a adult mixes hiragana and kanji when talking.

A simple example can be seen in the Yotsuba: [![yotsuba and her
father](https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7wIi.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/E7wIi.jpg)

The use of different fonts also helps add emphasis to the nuance between how
they speak.

While there are no lyrics for context in the Type Moon Ace short, the FGO
Summer event provides some context that we can infer thru how it is written
and the literary intend from whomever authored or oversaw the dialogue.

[![bara
bara](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XmQJN.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XmQJN.jpg)

Roses and padding make very little sense in this context, especially is land
racing.

Once interpretation can be that what is likely being conveyed is the whimsical
and child-ish tone of Nero's bad singing and the fact that she doesn't
remember or intentionally ignores the proper lyrics and (indirectly on the
audience) asserts her Imperial Privilege to insert whatever she fancies into
the lyrics, and establishing them as the proper lyrics as no one bothers
correcting her.

In essence "padoru" has no real meaning us is just a bit if a filler that the
off-key Nero probably misheard and went along with.


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