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The tea in China

Posted by Steve E on May 23, 2005

In Reply to: The tea in China posted by Smokey Stover on May 23, 2005

: : : "for all the tea in China"... this is a negative sarcastic remark, correct?

: : Yes. From a previous discussion:

: : Since China is a large country, it would contain a lot of tea -- and the tea would be worth a tremendous amount if it were made available on the world market. "All the tea in China" therefore translates to a considerable fortune. If you said "I wouldn't do that for all the tea in China," it means: I wouldn't do that even if you paid me an enormous fortune.

: Negative, yes. Sarcastic, no. SS

I agree with SS. It's not sarcastic but rather is meant to impart the scope or degree to which one would not do something.

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