In Chile-Heads Digest, v.5 #2, John Benz Fentner, Jr. wrote: | Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 19:34:16 -0400 | From: "John Benz Fentner, Jr." <jbenz@courant.infi.net> | Subject: Re: [CH] MUSTARD | | Chipotle Coyote wrote: | | > Those of you who are mustard fans.. might want to know August 3rd | > is national mustard day. | | Ah...it is indeed and, by strange coincidence, this appeared in | this week's World Wide Words from Michael Quinion: | | Q. Some years ago I came across an article about a zoo and its | new acquisition, a lion. The zoo had hoped to gain cubs, but this | lion, as the newspaper gleefully informed me, was unable to "cut | his mustard". What has mustard got to do with it? Is there a good | story behind this expression or is it just one of those enduring | nonsenses? [Jerzy Wawro] | | A. It seems that the phrase is of early twentieth-century US | origin. For a while before then, 'mustard' was used alone | figuratively to mean something that added zest to a situation. | The first recorded use of the phrase is by O Henry in 1907, in | a story called _The Heart of the West_ Yes, O. Henry was a master of using the language of the common man in creating his characters. But the expression "to cut the mustard" appears to have originated during the US Civil War (1861-65) when troops were "mustered" and groups of soldiers were selected for specific missions. The expression "cut the mustard" is more closely related to the contemporary usage "to make the cut" -- i.e., to be selected -- than with anything to do with the condiment. Now, does anyone know why New Englanders call the pungent and greenish 'liver' found in a lobster the 'tomalley' and whether or not this has anything to do with the Mexican corn-wrapped and chile-filled 'tomale'? Cheers, The Old Bear