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I was watching a video of people in Japan getting yelled at and stopped by police, and several times I'd hear them yell「ついて!」.
I was unsure of the meaning, and after looking it up I couldn't figure out if it was 着いて e.g. "sit down" or 付いて e.g. "come here". I know that 付いて来て would mean something like "come with me", but I am not sure which one of these would be correct in that situation.

EDIT:

For clarity, it was a skateboarding video. Someone would do a trick on private property, and when the police/guards saw this happen they yelled「ついて!」, directed at the skateboarder.

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    Do you have a link to the video source?
    – Leo
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 3:11
  • It's been a while since I saw the video, but the ついて command stuck in my mind ever since I watched it. I'll see if I can dig it up.
    – bcloutier
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 13:24
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    My guess would be this came from ”ついていけ” which would mean "Follow them!"
    – Locksleyu
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 14:00
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    Native speaker here. Makes no sense to say 「ついて!」 in that situation. If it did, someone would have easily answered this question a long time ago. I suspect mis-hearing more than anything.
    – user4032
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 0:45
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    Are you sure it is a skateboarding video? I know one meaning of ついて, but I am not sure if I am allowed to mention/ explain that due to the nature of the context.
    – kurakura88
    Commented Jul 25, 2016 at 7:56

2 Answers 2

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This is just a guess, but Japanese police/guards (and firefighters) would typically say

「どいて!」
「ハイ、どいて」

to civilians and youngsters, like trespassing skateboarder(s).

「おまわりさん、どいて!」連呼する消防隊。 Fire fighter yelling cops, "Move off!"
2012/09/11 - 火災現場で部署しようとする位置に居た警察官へ、「おまわりさん、どいて!」と連呼するはしご車と、道路上の野次馬へマイクとサイレン、それに警笛で移動を促すポンプ車。 ( The fire fighters yelling to the cops about "get off from parking point". ) -- YouTube

What makes this video clip funny is that it's the policemen who are usually telling people 「どいて!」

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    Would this be the て form of 退く? I think this is the most plausible answer I've heard so far.
    – bcloutier
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 1:18
  • Yes. I think it's related to どける, 「どけて」, どかす, どけ~!どいてくれ~! .... _______________________________________________________________________<hr> <br> 「どいて!」 doesn't mean [Get off the property.] It's closer to [Get out of my way.] So i'm not sure if it fits the situation described. _______________________________________________________________________<hr> <br> This page is interesting: detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q14115548219 >>> 「どいて」って方言? 先日、仕事場で焦っているときに「すみません、ちょっとどいてもらえますか?」と言ったら大激怒されました。
    – HizHa
    Commented Aug 5, 2016 at 18:46
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It comes from: つく[つく·付く], which primarily means to stick onto, to attach to, although it has several other meanings. In the situation you mentioned, it can be used as an English equivalent of "Follow (them/him/her/it)!" as the act of following is in fact, 'sticking on' to someone who is running or walking away.

Just on a side note, Korean shares a lot of things in common with Japanese, and the way they say "Follow (with the intention of catching the person/thing)" also contains the word "Stick on to."

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