Why do Mario and Luigi say "mama mia" "my mother" in Italian every time they mess up?

If Mario slips on a banana on Mario Kart, he says "mama mia." That means "my mother" in Italian according to Google Translator which is very useful only for translating a word or few but not whole sentences or paragraphs. If Luigi slips on a banana, he says "mama mia" on Mario Kart 64 in a higher tone than Mario's and if Mario crashes into a fake item for example, he'll say "WOO WOO WOAH WOAH OW OW OW!" and if Luigi does it he says "Wow woah woah ow ow ow!" Do you think that's a good start to get people to be exposed to some Italian? I have said it just to fill in for them if there was no sound when I played Mario Kart but I had no idea that was Italian and it was only temporary.