the price of tea in China
- idiom
- Informal
:
el precio del té en China
- His argument wandered off into issues about the price of tea in China that had nothing to do with the meeting.
Examples
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She always brings up topics that are like the price of tea in China when we're trying to stay focused.
-
I don't care about the price of tea in China!
-
Your suggestion is interesting, but what does it have to do with the price of tea in China?
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That's just the price of tea in China to me.
-
His argument wandered off into issues about the price of tea in China that had nothing to do with the meeting.
-
She always brings up topics that are like the price of tea in China when we're trying to stay focused.
-
Your suggestion is interesting, but what does it have to do with the price of tea in China?
Synonyms
355
3.6
Not related to the subject people are discussing or to the main point
1
8.3
A question that shows something is not related to the topic
Something not important to the current topic
Antonyms
How Relevant
592
3.3
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
the + price + of + tea + in + China
The literal combination ('price' + 'tea' + 'China') describes a concrete economic fact, but the idiomatic use—to mark something as irrelevant or unrelated—is a pragmatic, cultural usage that does not follow from the constituents. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would most likely interpret the phrase literally rather than infer the idiomatic meaning without prior exposure, so it is not compositional.
Etymology
The saying the price of tea in China comes from the image of asking about the cost of tea in China, a place very far away and not part of the talk. So, because that question has nothing to do with the topic, people use the phrase to mean 'something irrelevant'.