I am increasingly aware of the unstoppable passage of time. Not only because the new generations use expressions that I neither understand nor want to understand, but because my own expressions have become archaic and I realize that I have to explain the context of more than one phrase so that it can be understood. There is nothing that ages more.
It happened to me the other day with one in particular: “I’ve lost my mojo”. I said it without thinking, assuming that anyone in front of me would understand it, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. A part of the group where I said it understood the reference, another understood the expression but did not know where it came from and there was another part that neither understood the expression nor knew where it came from.
Suddenly I realized that that phrase was already starting to get old and that it was 100% part of the ‘millennial’ culture. If you use it or have heard it, do you remember where it comes from?
“I’ve lost my mojo”: a sexual phrase we knew too young
Of course, “I’ve lost my mojo” comes from the Austin Powers saga, created by comedian Mike Myers. Specifically, from the second installment, The spy who hugged me. The entire plot revolves around the fact that Doctor Evil has stolen Austin’s “mojo” and Austin must do everything possible to get it back.
At first I thought that “mojo” would come from the brilliant work that Spanish dubbing actors have done in international translations for decades. It sounded very Spanish to me and it seemed that Antonio Lara’s team, a legendary dubbing actor, had transferred the English humor to a more local one, but nothing could be further from the truth.
It is a literal adaptation of the original version, written by Myers himself and Michael McCullers. It turns out that “mojo” is an Old English word that means possessing magical strength, magnetism, and sexual attractiveness.. In Spanish, the dictionary only includes the meaning “spicy sauce of Canarian origin.” And whatever the dictionary says, for many millennials it has simply remained a synonym for “charm.”
New Line Cinema
Austin Powers It has a very particular humor and it is not the only occasion in which I thought that the dubbing had taken creative licenses. The same thing happens with Fat bastard. The character, voiced by Florentino Fernández, sings a song that is impossible to erase from your head: “I love your baby asao, asao, asao with salad.” I always thought the song was the creation of the Spanish dubbing team, but then again, it’s a literal translation of the original.
The expression “I have lost my mojo” has not only gotten old because 27 years have passed since its arrival in theaters, but also because, after revisiting the saga, it is clear that it is a humor not suitable for new generations and only those who They grew up with him and remember him fondly.
P.S. Those who did not understand the reference or know where it came from were part of another generation, of course.
