Italian Word for “now”. It’s used in the South of the country, and it probably comes from the Latin word “Mox” which means “then, early, in a moment”
The meaning of this word can variate depending on how you pronounce it or how many times you say it. If you say “Mo” with a very long “O”, maybe with an impressed/shocked face, it’s going to mean “Wow, that’s crazy” or “Wow, that’s terrible.”
If you say “Mo mò” (using the word two times talking fast, putting accent on the last O) it’s going to mean “a little while ago” or “in a few minutes”, even if sometimes it can just be a way to procrastinate something that you don’t want to do (in that case, the word is going to be accompanied by an annoyed gesture/face.
Another meaning for this word is pretty similar to the “long O version”, but slightly different. In fact, if an Italian says “Mo” with a long O and a very pissed off face, it’s probably going to mean “Ok, we’re fucked” or “Here’s the
fuckening” or “This should not have happened”. I really hope you won’t have the occasion to see a pissed off southern Italian.
Note: “Mo” actually doesn’t exists in the Italian dictionary, it’s dialect, but it can be very useful and it’s very very common, even because of its various meanings. Be careful not to use it in all situations.
Remember, Italians generally use these words with hand gestures too, in this case you’re probably going to notice that the hand will point downward, meaning “now”.
