What's that got to do with the...?

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"What's that got to do with the...?" is an expression denoting an irrelevance or non sequitur in the current discussion.

A common form, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?, is a retort to an irrelevant suggestion.[1] This facetious usage implies that the topic under discussion might as well be the price of tea in China for all the relevance the speaker's suggestion bears on it.

Possible origins[edit]

This expression may have stemmed from economists, who describe everything economic as affecting everything else, trying to find an expression which denotes the farthest logical connection from their current economic focus, in a sort of butterfly effect.[2] In this way, the price of tea in China was used to denote the farthest possibility. It can also be used to denote an irrelevant topic.

Related expressions[edit]

A related expression in Hebrew can be found in a commentary on the Biblical commandment of the septennial Shmitah or sabbatical year. Leviticus 25:1 specifically states that God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai; while this was a common location for God to speak to Moses, the text's explicit reference to it is very rare. Accordingly, Rashi's commentary begins with the question "What does Shmita have to do with Mount Sinai?" (?מה עניין שמיטה אצל הר סיני)[3] The question in rabbinic culture took on a general meaning equivalent to that of the "price of tea in China" expression.[citation needed]

There is also a similar phrase in Polish which says: "What does a piernik have to do with a windmill?" ("Co ma piernik do wiatraka?"). The exact origin of the expression is uncertain.[4] Another similar phrase also exists in French, "Quel est le rapport avec la choucroute?", which translates to "What does it have to do with the sauerkraut?" Another common expression in English is "What's that got to do with the price of fish?", which itself apparently evolved from "What's that got to do with the price of eggs?", a saying that dates back to the 1920s or possibly earlier.[5][6][7][8]

See also: How Much Is the Fish?

References[edit]

  1. ^ Rees, Nigel (2001). Oops, Pardon, Mrs Arden!: An Embarrassment of Domestic Catch Phrases. Robson. pp. 214–5. ISBN 1-86105-440-8.
  2. ^ "II. The Softening of the Hard Sciences". thewellspring.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  3. ^ David Seidenberg. "Shmita: the purpose of Sinai" (PDF). neohasid.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  4. ^ Bańko, Mirosław [in Polish]. "Co ma piernik do wiatraka?" [What does a piernik have to do with a windmill?] (in Polish). Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  5. ^ "The price of fish - phrase meaning and origin". www.phrases.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  6. ^ "what's that got to do with the price of fish". TheFreeDictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  7. ^ Gallegati, Mauro; Giulioni, Gianfranco; Kirman, Alan; Palestrini, Antonio (2011-09-01). "What's that got to do with the price of fish? Buyers behavior on the Ancona fish market" (PDF). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Special Section: Fish Markets. 80 (1): 20–33. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2011.01.011. ISSN 0167-2681. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
  8. ^ "What's that got to do with the price of fish?". The Age. 2004-02-16. Archived from the original on 2023-11-25. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
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