Issue with translating song lyrics - Over The Top! (One Piece Op. 22)

[Asanf]

Hi everyone,
I catched up with One Piece lately, and the opening Over The Top by Hiroshi Kitadani really got stuck in my head, so I decided to attempt translating the lyrics (here’s the link to the song and lyrics).

There’s a verse in particular which is giving me issues, which says:

きつい時ほど 笑っとけ

If I understand correctly:

• 笑っとけ should be translated as “Laugh in preparation for …”, as っとけ should be the contraction of っておけ which in turn is the imperative of っておく: to do something in preparation for …;

• きつい時 should simply be “difficult times”;

So my issue here is with ほど.

Without ほど, my best guess would have been “Laugh! Hard times are coming” or something along those lines.

With ほど, the only thing that comes to my mind is “The harder the time, the more you should laugh (to prepare for them)” or something like that.

Am I even close?

Thanks in advance.
Antonio

[Leebo]

This came up in the short grammar questions recently.

AほどB means “the more A, the more B”

“The tougher times are, the more you should laugh.”

Edit: oh you answered it yourself

[Asanf]

Thanks! Should have searched better, I didn’t find the post you mention.

[Leebo]

I just meant to point out that it was coincidental. But it’s true that if you don’t want to make a topic for a question in the future, the short grammar questions thread is also a place you can ask. Either is fine

[Asanf]

No worries, I’m making my first steps in the forum so hints about threads are more than welcome.

Thanks again!