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A section for all you budding etymologists where each week the origin of a word or phrase is investigated.
This week it is..... Cut the mustard
To succeed; to come up to expectations.
Why cutting mustard was chosen as an example of high
quality is unclear. As always in such circumstances,
there are no shortage of guesses. Some of these allude
to the literal difficulty of cutting mustard in its various
forms; for example:
- Mustard seed, which is hard to cut with a knife on
account of its being small and shiny.
- Mustard plants, which are tough and stringy and grow
densely.
- Culinary mustard, which is cut (diluted) and made
more palatable by the addition of vinegar.
- Dried mustard paste, which was reputedly used to coat
meat and then dried to form a crust.
There is no evidence to support these derivations and
they give the impression of having been retro-fitted in
an attempt at plausibility.
Another supposed explanation is that the phrase is
simply a mistaken version of the military expression
‘cut the muster’. This appears believable at first sight.
A little research shows it not to be so. Muster is the
calling together of soldiers, sailors, prisoners, to parade
for inspection or exercise. To cut muster would be a
breach of discipline; hardly a phrase that would have
been adopted with the meaning of success or excellence.
This line of thought appears to have been influenced by
confusion with the term ‘pass muster’, which would have
the correct meaning, but which could hardly be argued
to be the origin of ‘cut the mustard’. The OED, which is
the most complete record of the English language, along
with all of the other reference works I’ve checked, don’t
record ‘cut the muster’ at all. The fact that documented
examples of ‘cut the mustard’ are known from many
years before any for ‘cut the muster’ would appear to
rule out the latter as the origin.
There has been an association between the heat and
piquancy of mustard and the zest and energy of people’s
behaviour. This dates back to at least 1672, when the term
‘as keen as mustard’ is first recorded. ‘Up to mustard’ or
just ‘mustard’ means up to standard in the same way as
‘up to snuff’. ‘Cutting’ has also long been used to mean
‘exhibiting’, as in the phrase ‘cutting a fine figure’. Unless
some actual evidence is found for the other proposed
explanations, the derivation of ‘cutting the mustard’
as an alternative way of saying ‘exhibiting one’s high
standards’ is by far the most likely.
Whatever the coinage, the phrase itself emerged in the
USA towards the end of the 19th century. The earl