Not for points Greek to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature prose / slang / surreal

Μόνο μια ηλίθια μαγκιά μένει.

My first thought was "a stupid grit is all that's left"...

"Grit" is close, and what's more, it's a familiar word, affording a certain sense of confidence.

There is, however, a subtle difference, between this option and the Greek term - at least as I perceive the two of them.

After looking around a bit, I stumbled across the word moxie.
According to the fairly reliable www.thefreedictionary.com, it can mean
1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.
2. Aggressive energy; initiative.
3. Skill; know-how.
This triplet of potential interpretations serve my intentions perfectly...

What's bugging me is I've hardly ever heard the word, and that makes me a bit suspicious against it.
I mean, slang can, as most things, get outdated, or even archaic in extreme cases, and I wouldn't like my text to sound that way...

So could native English speakers please either confirm or dampen my suspicions by providing some information as to whether the word is actually still alive or not, and to what extent - both demographically and geographically, so to speak?

Any other suggestions as to other words that bear a similar multitude of connotations as the one listed above are also welcome, of course.