The Japan Times Online、May 23, 2010にあったキャプションです。
Can celebs cut mustard in rough-and-tumble politics?
"cut mustard" は前にも見た覚えのある慣用句ですがすっかり忘れています。ハムやソーセージ、あるいはオデンにつけるマスタードの話ではない事は確かです。 まず記事を読んでみます。
...
Celebrity candidates have been a fixture of Japanese elections as long as there have been Japanese elections, but it seems only recently that the media has pointed out how cynical that is.
次ぎの参議院選挙で各党が多くの有名人をかついでいる話ですね。
The more famous the candidate, the more likely that person's party will do well.
どこの政党も人気が落ちているので政党の都合で有名人を利用しているのは見え見えで、黒幕にとっては票さえ集まれば素人政治家の方が扱い易いのでしょうが、それで日本の政治が良くなるのでしょうか？
"cut mustard" はその事を言っているようですが辞書で確かめます。
・Wiktionary: To suffice; to be good or effective enough.; Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn't cut the mustard. This idiom usually appears in negative polarity contexts: “doesn't cut the mustard”, “can't cut the mustard”, and so on.
・The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: Perform satisfactorily, as in We need a better catcher; this one just doesn't cut the mustard. The origin of this expression is disputed. Some believe it alludes to mustard in the sense of the best or main attraction (owing to its spicing up food), whereas others believe it is a corruption of pass muster. Still others hold that it concerns the preparation of mustard, which involves adding vinegar to mustard seed to "cut" (reduce) its bitterness. The expression is often in negative form.
なるほど、記事のキャプションは否定文ではなく疑問文ですが、否定的な意味、皮肉を込めているのでしょう。 正直私も谷亮子選手（まだ柔道もあきらめないと言っているので）にはがっかりさせられた気がします。その点マラソンの高橋尚子さんの次ぎの言葉には拍手です。
Takahashi said that only "professional" politicians should run, thus giving rise to speculation she was dissing Tani. She probably wasn't, but it's the sort of implied throwdown that tabloids and wide shows find irresistible.
谷さん、"You can't eat your cake and have it too."
Can celebs cut mustard in rough-and-tumble politics?
"cut mustard" は前にも見た覚えのある慣用句ですがすっかり忘れています。ハムやソーセージ、あるいはオデンにつけるマスタードの話ではない事は確かです。 まず記事を読んでみます。
...
Celebrity candidates have been a fixture of Japanese elections as long as there have been Japanese elections, but it seems only recently that the media has pointed out how cynical that is.
次ぎの参議院選挙で各党が多くの有名人をかついでいる話ですね。
The more famous the candidate, the more likely that person's party will do well.
どこの政党も人気が落ちているので政党の都合で有名人を利用しているのは見え見えで、黒幕にとっては票さえ集まれば素人政治家の方が扱い易いのでしょうが、それで日本の政治が良くなるのでしょうか？
"cut mustard" はその事を言っているようですが辞書で確かめます。
・Wiktionary: To suffice; to be good or effective enough.; Give me the bigger hammer. This little one just doesn't cut the mustard. This idiom usually appears in negative polarity contexts: “doesn't cut the mustard”, “can't cut the mustard”, and so on.
・The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms: Perform satisfactorily, as in We need a better catcher; this one just doesn't cut the mustard. The origin of this expression is disputed. Some believe it alludes to mustard in the sense of the best or main attraction (owing to its spicing up food), whereas others believe it is a corruption of pass muster. Still others hold that it concerns the preparation of mustard, which involves adding vinegar to mustard seed to "cut" (reduce) its bitterness. The expression is often in negative form.
なるほど、記事のキャプションは否定文ではなく疑問文ですが、否定的な意味、皮肉を込めているのでしょう。 正直私も谷亮子選手（まだ柔道もあきらめないと言っているので）にはがっかりさせられた気がします。その点マラソンの高橋尚子さんの次ぎの言葉には拍手です。
Takahashi said that only "professional" politicians should run, thus giving rise to speculation she was dissing Tani. She probably wasn't, but it's the sort of implied throwdown that tabloids and wide shows find irresistible.
谷さん、"You can't eat your cake and have it too."
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