mox nix

English

Alternative forms

  • mox-nix

Etymology

An alteration of German macht nichts (“doesn't matter”) that originated among American soldiers stationed in Germany after World War II.[1]

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɑks ˌnɪks/

Interjection

mox nix

  1. (dated, slang) it doesn't matter; no worries
    • 1969, Creighton Abrams, “1969”, in Lewis Sorley, editor, Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968–1972‎[1], published 2004, →ISBN, page 330:
      When they want to do something, they do it! Whether we've funded it, whether we'll support it—mox nix. They do it!
    • 1983, Ian Skidmore, Forgive Us Our Press Passes‎[2], →ISBN, page 21:

      'Nice people, are they?'

      'I shouldn't think so.'

      'Aw, well. Mox nix. Want some of this rice?'

    • 2005, James Carroll, Secret Father: A Novel‎[3], →ISBN, page 264:
      No, I get it. Small matter. Mox nix.
    • 2011, Ritch Gaiti, Tweet: One Guy Can't Change the World—Good Thing that Glebe Didn't Know That‎[4], →ISBN, page 73:
      I thought it resembled me more than Hartwick but mox nix—it was ours.

Adjective

mox nix (not comparable)

  1. (dated, slang) unimportant, irrelevant
    • 1947, H. W. Kale, “Letter of July 5, 1947”, in Mark William Falzini, editor, Letters Home: The Story of an American Military Family in Occupied Germany 1946–1949‎[5], published 2004, →ISBN, page 99:
      If you don't have time to do this don't worry about it because it's mox nix to me (mox nicht—makes no difference).
    • 2004, Kenneth Stiers, The Rapanui Code‎[6], →ISBN, page 49:
      Frankly it's mox-nix to me.
    • 2006, William P. Singley, Bragg‎[7], →ISBN, page 81:
      Mox nix to me if you cover for him.

References

  1. ^ Eric Partridge, 1986, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day, 2nd edn., p. 314.
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