Reader question: This – Sorry doesn't cut it – is a headline. But what does it mean?

My comments: It means merely saying "I'm sorry" isn't good enough. Whoever feels sorry should do more to pacify¹ those he's saying sorry to.

"Doesn't cut it" is an idiom – and a nice little expression to learn. If something doesn't cut it, it means that it's not quite up to the standard required to accomplish a particular task. This is a good idiom to learn because it is so simple.

I have a hunch² (only a hunch) that the expression is a variation from the age-old English idiom "doesn't cut the mustard" , which means the same thing – that something doesn't quite work to one's satisfaction. This phrase may have come from the fact that mustard is easier to cut than butter at the table, meaning it's an easier job. If something doesn't even cut the mustard, it is hence no good. Some say the expression may have derived³ from the American cowboy expression "proper mustard" , meaning the genuine thing, the best. Others trace it to traditional mustard making, in which a special knife is used to "cut it" (whatever that means) during the course of its making. If the knife "doesn't cut it" , the overall quality of the finished product is somehow affected⁴. If the knife "cuts it fine" , on the other hand, the finished product is tasty and good...

Does my explanation cuts it fine with you?

I know, I know, I know. Explaining English is a thankless task. Never mind. Just remember that "doesn't cut it" means the same as "doesn't cut the mustard" . In fact remembering "doesn't cut it" alone will do. It's much simpler than "doesn't cut the mustard" and is much more popular anyway. It is on the strength of its simplicity⁵ that I advise you to master it – it is good everyday English.

By the by, the expression is more often used in the negative than in the positive. That is, if something "cuts it" , say it works. Only say "doesn't cut it" when it doesn't, indeed, quite cut it.

Here are more examples:

1. Good figures alone don't cut it in depressed⁶ times No pain, no gain. As the credit crisis took its inevitable⁷ toll⁸, the three once high-flying shares unceremoniously dumped from the No Pain, No Gain portfolio⁹ have, not surprisingly, failed to recapture any of their old sparkle. And the delivery of encouraging profits has again been contemptuously ignored by the stock market. - The Independent, April 19, 2008.

2. Same old contentdoesn't cut it for online readers Sadly, far too many newspapers continue to treat their websites as simply the online version of their printed papers. I thought that it was widely understood at this point that you will never grow your online audience if all your do is reprint only what is in your daily newspaper. - yonigreenbaum.com, March 3, 2008.

3. Will Clinton stand by her statement despite all evidence to the contrary? This tactic¹⁰ has failed her in the dodging-bullets-in-Bosnia incident and the press has gained courage in crying out the-Emporer-Has-No-Clothes, though it took Sinbad, a comedian¹¹, to call it out first, doing the work that journalists are paid to do. What held back the countless¹² journalists who were on the same trip from reporting the discrepancy¹³ first with their own selves as witnesses? Was it the editorial boards at news organisations? Or perhaps it is true that "just words" doesn't quite cut it nowadays – truth needs video. - Texas: and the winner is Obama? Clinton? nowpublic.com, March 28, 2008.