how did the expression "CANT CUT THE MUSTARD" originate?

Answer 1

According to Mavens' Word of the Day, author O. Henry deserves credit for coining it. "So I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard," he wrote in the early 20th century. Alas, nobody seems to know why Mr. Henry chose mustard over ketchup (or tangy mayo for that matter).

It could be that he wasn't talking about mustard at all. According to World Wide Words, some believe the expression references mustard, others suspect it's really another way of saying "muster." Such an explanation does make sense, until you consider that O. Henry could have been talking about the mustard seed, which, we're told, is quite difficult to cut.

Regardless of the phrase's true origin, we're happy it's still being used. Today's idiotic idioms, like "economies of scale" and "growing the brand," just don't cut the mayo.

Answer 2

It comes from an old cowboy expression, "the proper mustard",
meaning "the genuine thing", and a resulting use of "mustard" to
denote the best of anything. O. Henry wrote in Cabbages and Kings
(1894) called mustard "the main attraction": "I'm not headlined
in the bills, but I'm the mustard in the salad dressing, just the
same." Figurative use of "mustard" as a positive superlative dates
from 1659 in the phrase "keen as mustard", and use of "cut" to
denote rank (as in "a cut above") dates from the 18th century.

Other theories are that it is a corruption of the military phrase
"to pass muster" ("muster", from Latin monstrare="to show", means
"to assemble (troops), as for inspection"); that it refers to the
practice of adding vinegar to ground-up mustard seed to "cut" the
bitter taste; that it literally means "cut mustard" as an example of
a difficult task, mustard being a relatively tough crop that grows
close to the ground; and that it literally means "cut mustard" as
an example of an easy task (via the negative expression "can't
even cut the mustard"), mustard being easier to cut at the table
than butter.

The more-or-less synonymous expression "cut it" (as in "'Sorry'
doesn't cut it") seems to be more recent and may derive from
"cut the mustard".

Answer 3

It's not cut the mustard, it's pass muster.

To pass muster is to be judged acceptable. So, if someone says it didn't 'pass muster' or 'cut the muster', something is unacceptable or not meeting the required standard.

Answer 4

i think that some one was trying to actually cut the mustard and they couldnt cause it was all runny. but my answer is kinda stupid anyway, but thats how i think it got started.

Answer 5

what he said..

It came from England, we say stupid stuff like that all the time