What does the expression, "can't cut the mustard" mean?

Answer 1

can't meet requrements, or live up to a standard -- can't overcome an obstacle or face a challenge

Answer 2

Whatever the origins of 'can't cut the mustard', they are about as clear as mustard, the expression 'too old to cut the mustard' is always applied to to men today and conveys the idea of sexual inability. ' Can't cut the mustard', however, means not to be able to handle any job for any reason, not just because of old age. Preceeding the derivation of 'too old to cut the mustard' by about half a century, it derives from the expression 'to be the mustard'. "Mustard" was slang for the " genuine article" or " main attraction" at the time. Perhaps someone cutting up to show that he was 'the mustard', or the greatest, was said 'to cut the mustard' and the phrase was later meant to mean to be able to fill the bill or or do the important or main job. In any case, O. Henry first used the words in this sense in his story "Heart of the West" (1907) when he wrote: " I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard". Today, 'can't cut the mustard' is usually 'can't cut it' or 'can't hack it'. A recent variant on 'too old to cut the mustard' is 'if you can't cut the mustard, you can lick the jar'.

Answer 3

CUT THE MUSTARD -- From "Listening to America" by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, 1982), "Mustard came into English in the 13th century from the French (going back to Latin mustum, grape juice, originally used for mixing ground mustard seeds into a paste). By the War of 1812 'mustard seed shot' was an American term for small-gauge shot. Between 1900 and 1910, when commercially bottled mustard became popular, 'mustard' appeared in several slang expressions that used the strength of the condiment as a metaphor: 'to be the proper mustard' meant to be the genuine article, 'to be all mustard' meant to be excellent, and 'to be up to the mustard' and 'to cut the mustard' both meant to come up to expectations. Since World War I the last expression has been used almost exclusively in the negative 'he can't cut the mustard' - and among many men is used to mean unable to have an erection, to be unable to perform sexually."

From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" (Second Edition, HarperCollins, 1977) by William and Mary Morris: "cut the mustard -- was originally a Western expression, popular among cowboys during the late nineteenth century. If something was 'the proper mustard,' it was O.K., the genuine article. Andy Adams used the expression this way in his famous 'Log of a Cowboy,' when he wrote that 'for fear the two dogs were not the proper mustard, he had that dog man sue him in court to make him prove the pedigree.' And Carl Sandburg once wrote: 'Kid each other, you cheapskates. Tell each other you're all to the mustard." Then expression cut the mustard then came into vogue."

Answer 4

Cant Cut The Mustard

Answer 5

I lived In the South, USA, in the 1940's and 1950's. There were three types of greens: Turnip Greens, Collard Greens, and Mustard Greens. To cut the mustard greens, you had to bend low to the ground to cut them. As you aged you became "too old to cut the mustard any more."

Answer 6

It used to not able to pass muster and some how turned to "can't cut the mustard"

Answer 7

Well,you can't,can you?

Answer 8

can't cut the mustard
if you can't cut the mustard, you cannot deal with problems or difficulties. if she can't cut the mustard, we'll have to find someone else to do the job.

Answer 9

I don't have any balls can I still cut the mustard?
I think so!

Answer 10

can't do the job