Cut the mustard

Posted by James Briggs on August 25, 2002

In Reply to: Cut the mustard posted by Michael on August 25, 2002

: : : : Cut the mustard is a US euphemism for having sex. In the 40's, there was a song about a man who had grown too old to have sex with his wife. It was intitled "Too Old to Cut the Mustard. I've been around a while and I have never heard it used any other way.

: : : That's the way I've heard it used. "Mustard expressions" have a long history. "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..." From Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, 1982).

: : I've always heard "can't cut the mustard" used with nonsexual meanings. I'm in the US too.

: I'm American, and I've always known of the phrase to mean that you couldn't get the job done - not in the sexual sense.

To cut the mustard means to come up to expectations, come up to scratch. The origin here is uncertain. Some say that it's a corruption of the military phrase 'to pass muster', indicating that military standards have been achieved. Others say that a cowboy expression 'the proper mustard', meaning the genuine thing, may be the basis. 'As keen as mustard', dating from the mid 1600s has also been suggested. In truth, no one really knows!

• Nothing to do with sex unless Jersey 08/26/02
  • Nothing to do with sex unless ESC 08/26/02