'My cup of tea'

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

It seems to me that native speakers use ‘not my cup of tea’ more than ‘my cup of tea’. What do you think?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

Ms Google thinks the two expressions are about even:

Is my cup of tea - About 1,500,000 results
Is not my cup of tea - About 1,710,000 results

3

Hi, Mister Micawber

by the way, what does it mean ? does it mean not my favorite ?

4

It’s not my cup of tea = I don’t like it very much; I don’t do it very well.

5

Hi,

this is one of most common used English phrases and it simply means .

something which doesn’t belongs to me or something that i am not in to.

this is not exactly used when two people are having tea…but its often use when some one asked you to get involved in something in which you don’t have any interest.

then you can simply reply “this is not my cup of tea”

thanks;
David.

6

Hi David,

I agree with everything else you say, but I have to disagree that it means ‘something which doesn’t belong to me’.

7

As far as I know “cup of tea” is an American idiom which means the type of person or thing that one generally likes and this expression is almost always used in the negative.
Ex1: Soccer isn’t Tom’s cup of tea. He prefers hockey.
Ex2: I know that Susan is nice, but she’s simply not my cup of tea.

8

Hi Joseph,

The idiom is used extensively in the UK too. As Mister Micawber explains earlier in this thread, it is used in the positive and the negative.

I bought this for you.
Thanks, that’s just my cup of tea.

9

Noted with thanks, BN.
You can say that again!
JLTS