So much for Stacy’s suggestion that readers take the explanations with a grain of salt.

See Deuteronomy 32:10. He found them in a desert land, and in a desolate, howling wasteland. He encompassed them and bestowed understanding upon them; He protected them as the apple of His eye.

Psalms 17:8 Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings

Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye

Zechariah 2:8 For thus says the Lord of Hosts:’For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye

All long before the English stopped painting themselves blue ((grin)).

It seems that I will have to do my own research on Neatorama lists for now on…

I used to work with a Cuban guy, and he said that Cubans said “greatest thing since toilet paper”, because, which would you rather have, sliced bread or toilet paper?

“More (money, women, troubles, etc) than Carter has liver pills.” “Carter” was a company that made liver pills that it seemed at one time in American history everyone was taking for one ailment or another.

Her pants are “tighter than Dick’s hatband.” Hat bands on fedora hats commonly worn in the 30/40/50s were actually sewn to the hat so that would be pretty damned tight.

sneeze “Bless you” This came from the medievel(sp) belief that a sneeze was so traumatic that your heart stopped momentarily and thus released a part of your soul which needed to be blessed.

This passed on from there to a euphemism about all slaves to a euphemism about any person.

I have to agree with the criticism of the facts. It looks as if this piece was cobbled together out of urban legends and wishful thinking. Neatorama readers have a reasonable expectation of reading something that is well-thought-out, researched, and checked for facts.

This is not really a food phrase. The real phrase dates back to middle English and the English Navy.

Muster (not mustard) by definition means “representative specimen” – in the English Navy calling to muster was a reference for the drills and the time it took to get all hands on deck (for evacuation or battle). Making the muster cut means that you and your team were good/fast enough to pass the drill. Those who passed made the muster cut, those who failed had to re-drill and possibly got additional duties.

and just to throw a kink in it all, I was of the impression it was meaning his equivalent in salt, or worth his weight in salt, as salt had a value, and your work efforts were tied to your comparative weight…
so, homework or not, this one is still not confirmed

And just to spell it out: That is the root word the modern English “salary” is based on.

You do understand that a significant part of our English vocabulary comes from Latin, right?

Nothing to do with the phrase ‘to pass muster’ it seems.

And ditto on the homework. I’m surprised it got enough thumbs up to make it through.

Ah now that makes more sense than either the previously given explanation or the one that I had.

And the one I had been told was better than the given one…well to my mind at least.

Mustard was not sold in jars in the UK, it was sold as a powder that was mixed with water as and when it was needed. Coleman’s English Mustard is ferociously hot.

SO I was told the phrase meant to Cut the Mustard was literally to cut it with cornflour to make a milder condiment.

So to “make a thing right” is to cut the mustard.

No doubt this is balderdash.

Lame!

Otherwise, I love reading stuff like this. It’s always cool to know where the things we say come from.

[A] It comes from the Industrial Workers of the World, the anarchist-syndicalist labour organisation formed in the US in 1905, often called the Wobblies. The Wobblies concentrated on organising migrant and casual workers; one of the ways in which they brought such disparate and fragmented groups together was by song. Every member got a little red book when he joined, containing parodies of popular songs or hymns (the book had a motto on the cover: “To Fan the Flames of Discontent”). One of the early ones, predating the IWW, was Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.”

…”The song was a parody of the Salvation Army hymn In the Sweet Bye and Bye:

Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;
But when asked how ’bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweet:

CHORUS:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die. ”

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pie1.htm

‘Apple of my eye’ comes from a time when apple was the word for ‘fruit’ (the apple in the garden of Eden was the same. There’s a lot of old English references using the word apple as a general for fruit, in fact).

for what it’s worth…

And “to cut the mustard” meant something else (would involve the EPA nowdays).

Anyone willing to make that lopsided a bet would be very sure they were right.