The Austin Powers Glossary

The world of Austin Powers carries a language all its own. In the movie, Mike Myers plays three different roles: Dr. Evil; an overweight Scottish assassin; and, of course, Austin himself.

CBS This Morning Contributor Eleanor Mondale asked Myers to provide sort of an "Austin glossary," to define a few of his characters' special terms.

"Dr. Evil invented quotation fingers, or so he thinks."

At one point, Dr. Evil shushes his son Scott by using the phrase www.ssshhh.com. Says Myers, "Yes, that's Dr. Evil trying to be 'hip' by referencing the 'net."

Fans of the first Austin Powers movie might recall a minor character, Mustafa, who is sent down a chute into a fiery furnace by Dr. Evil. His cry from the smoking vent: "I am still alive, but I am very badly burned."

"Nothing that Dr. Evil does ever works," notes Myers. In the new Austin Powers movie, Mustafa is back. This time, he falls over a cliff, and he still won't die.

"Every spy has mojo," explains Myers. "James Bond had mojo. Derek Flint from In Like Flint had mojo. Many people have mojo. Mojo is the essence, the life force, the libido, when the French call a certain 'I don't know what.'"

A figure of speech introduced in the new Powers movie: "Hop on the good foot and do the bad thing."

What does it mean?

"That's from James Brown," Myers explains. "It means to prepare yourself for an amorous adventure."

Does he know when he has invented a good character?

"No, I don't know anything," he says. He came up with the idea for Austin Powers in the car, listening to The Look of Love by Burt Bacharach on the radio. (He also often comes up with creative ideas when he's taking a bath.) The song reminded him that "you just don't see swingers any more." Also, Myers' father is British, so the actor is sort of an Anglophile.

"And I just came home talking like a British swinger. And I was just like, 'Do I make you hawny, baby? Do I? Oh. be-have!' And [my wife] went, 'Ah, that's funny. You should write it up.' So, three weeks later, I wrote a script."

Did Myers have any idea that Austin Powers would be so successful? He tells Mondale that he thought it was an inside joke that only his family would appreciate.