As with many slang and idiomatic phrases, the origin of cut the mustard isn’t so … clear-cut. But, let’s see if we can’t crack this etymological jar open just a bit.
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WHAT DOES “CUT THE MUSTARD” MEAN?
To cut the mustard is “to reach or surpass the desired standard or performance” or more generally “to succeed, to have the ability to do something.” For instance, Beyoncé really cut the mustard in her new song.
Most often, the phrase is used in negative constructions for when something doesn’t live up to expectations or can’t do the job, e.g., The quarterback couldn’t cut the mustard in the playoffs.
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WHEN DID WE START SAYING “CUT THE MUSTARD”?
Cut the mustard appears to be an American original. Evidence for the phrase can be found in a Galveston, Texas newspaper in 1891–92.
The author O. Henry—who spent many years in Texas, where he may have picked up the expression—used cut the mustard in his 1907 collection of short stories The Heart of the West: “I looked around and found a proposition that exactly cut the mustard.”
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WHAT DOES MUSTARD HAVE TO DO WITH EXCELLENCE?
Clues can be found in earlier mustard expressions. Mustard adds spice, zest, piquancy. This may not be obvious in everyday yellow mustard, but slather some English mustard like Colman’s on your frankfurter … and you’ll be feeling the heat!
That’s why, as early as the 1600s, hot/strong/keen as mustard was a figure of speech for something extremely powerful, passionate, or enthusiastic. These qualities are very admirable or desirable, so it’s perhaps no surprise that mustard took the jump to connotations of “genuine, superior, excellent.”
Earlier in the 20th century, people even went around calling each other mustard! He’s mustard, for example, means “He’s great.” It’s this idea, of mustard as “excellent” or “great,” that seems to be at work in cut the mustard.
From Dictionary.com
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