It's not his cup of tea

gerry | 06:57 Thu 01st May 2003 | Phrases & Sayings

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Can anyone tell me where the phrase ' It's not his cup of tea' comes from. I know it means something like he wouldn't like it or fancy it. I heard it the other day a woman said 'we could get him a parachute jump' and the other woman said 'It's not his cup of tea'.

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Quizmonster

In the early 1900s, calling someone 'a cup of tea' simply meant that - like the thing itself - he/she was refreshing and invigorating. The earliest use of the idea in the possessive and often negative way...not my/his/etc cup of tea...appeared in the early 1930s in a work by Nancy Mitford. It just means the thing in question is not to the person's 'taste'.

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