Question

Cut the Mustard to be able to handle a job or fulfill the requirements

Accepted Answer

He was forty and many people thought he was too old to cut the mustard, but he hit over fifty homeruns. This is an example of late 19th-century American slang. "Mustard" meant the main attraction. If you could "cut the mustard," you could do something well. Why is it "cut" the mustard? Perhaps because mustard grows as a plant that has to be cut down, and if you can cut the mustard plant down, you must be a capable person. Another theory is that this expression comes from the military. There, "to pass muster" means to pass inspection, which may have changed over the years to "cut the mustard."

Idiom	Cut the Mustard
Example	He was forty and many people thought he was too old to cut the mustard, but he hit over fifty homeruns.
Meaning	to be able to handle a job or fulfill the requirements
Origin	This is an example of late 19th-century American slang. "Mustard" meant the main attraction. If you could "cut the mustard," you could do something well. Why is it "cut" the mustard? Perhaps because mustard grows as a plant that has to be cut down, and if you can cut the mustard plant down, you must be a capable person. Another theory is that this expression comes from the military. There, "to pass muster" means to pass inspection, which may have changed over the years to "cut the mustard."

Cut Mustard Plant Pass Forty People Thought Hit