"Lost his mojo"

Posted by Henry on February 09, 2004

In Reply to: "Serious Jones" "Lost his mojo" posted by jda on February 09, 2004

: Can anyone advise me on the provenance of either of these phrases? "Mojo" may require a capital letter.

www.cnn.com/ 2003/US/10/31/offbeat.rumsfeld.mojo.reut/Friday, October 31, 2003 Posted: 1:56 PM EST (1856 GMT)
Rumsfeld: Beauty in the eye of the beholder
FACT BOX mojo n. [[prob. of Creole orig.; cf. Gullah moco, witchcraft]]
1 a charm or amulet thought to have magic powers 2 [Slang] power, luck, etc., as of magical or supernatural origin Source: Webster's Dictionary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he does not know whether or not he has lost his mojo, as a leading news magazine suggested, largely because he doesn't really know what mojo is. Rumsfeld added, "And I guess the answer is that beauty's in the eye of the beholder. I don't know enough about mojo to know."

Mojo has most recently come into popular culture in connection with the "Austin Powers" movies, starring Mike Myers, in which mojo was portrayed as the secret behind the title character's libido. At one point, Myers complains, "Crikey, I've lost my mojo!" Legendary blues singer Muddy Waters also famously sang in the 1960's, "I got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you."

• "Serious Jones" Henry 09/February/04
  • Mojo, jones ESC 09/February/04
    • Mojo, jones Brian from Shawnee 11/February/04