Where "Put the Moz On" Comes From
"Moz" (also spelled "mozz") likely traces back through British and Irish slang to Yiddish "makkes," from a Hebrew word for plagues or misfortunes.
It's a chain of borrowing that's been used across English-speaking countries since at least the early 1900s.
“Don't mention the weather, you'll put the moz on the picnic.”
“Three goals up and he says we've got it won, he's put the moz on us.”
Don't say we're winning, you'll put the moz on us!
How Aussies Actually Use It
Used as a warning — don't jinx it — whenever someone tempts fate by celebrating too early.
Put the moz on is what you say, half joking, when someone has just said something that might ruin the luck. It is mostly used in sport and betting talk, exams, job interviews or anything where you are ahead and someone speaks too early. The tone is playful. It is a way of telling a friend to stop tempting fate, not a serious accusation.
The person who is blamed is the one who says the hopeful thing aloud, as in "you've put the moz on us". You can also use it about yourself: "I've put the moz on it now." Learners will find it handy for football and cricket chat. It is more common in speech than writing. If you want a similar phrase, "jinx" works too, but "the moz" is more distinctly Australian in flavour.
See also: Buckley's Chance (another phrase about luck and odds), Such is life (a resigned way to react to bad luck).
Still understood by most Australians, even if it's used a little less than the classic superstition it describes.
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