"Serious Jones"

Posted by Henry on February 09, 2004

In Reply to: "Lost his mojo" posted by Henry 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."

www.yaelf.com/ slang.shtml The Great Jones
Q: East Third Street becomes Great Jones Street between Broadway and the Bowery. Who was Jones and what was so great about him?
A. Jones is Samuel Jones, a lawyer sometimes called Father of the New York Bar. He owned the land on which Great Jones Street now runs and bequeathed the property to the city with the caveat that any street that ran through the land be named for him.

In 1789 a street was opened there, but New York already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village. So the new street was named Great Jones Street because it was wider than the norm. In his desire to be remembered, Jones may have linked himself with a different aspect of the city's culture. The slang term "jones," meaning an addiction to drugs, is said to have originated among addicts who lived in Great Jones Alley, off Great Jones Street, between Broadway and Lafayette Street. (extract from the "New York Times" site, article by Ed Boland, Jr)

• Mojo, jones ESC 09/February/04
  • Mojo, jones Brian from Shawnee 11/February/04