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"all the tea in China"

Posted by ESC on November 11, 2004

In Reply to: "All the tea in China" posted by Reese on November 11, 2004

: Obliquely attributed to prohibition-era NYC Irish-American gangster Owen "Owney the Killer" Madden in Stanley Walker's 1933 book "The Night Club Era".

A source. Excellent! All I can add is: "America's China trade or tea trade began in 1784 when the new Empress of China, named for its destination, sailed to the Orient." from Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner.

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