Now that’s my cup of tea!

[Theseus]

Two interesting points to this phrase are, first, this use of ‘now’ as a discourse particle, here surely not τώρα and, second, the modern Greek idiom for ‘a cup of tea’ , δηλ. " in the metaphorical sense when a ‘cup of tea’ is used to describe something that someone enjoys or finds appealing. Would this specimen sentence, for example, carry the same idiomatic meaning:-
‘Now that’s my type of music/art:
Αυτό το είδος μουσικής/ τέχνης μου αρέσει!

 

[m_a_a_]

Okay, this is by no means an attempt at offering orthodox suggestions as to how the phrase could be translated into Greek… I'm just thinking, like, under what circumstances would it be reasonably possible that I myself would exclaim, "Now that's my cup of tea!" (even if being a bit humorous about it, even if just dropping that exact English phrase in a conversation held in Greek)?

And then I'm thinking, what Greek exclamations would I use under those same circumstances?

And a few come to mind:

this use of ‘now’ as a discourse particle, here surely not τώρα

–Τώρα μάλιστα!
(This is admittedly more generic in its potential usage, closer, perhaps, to "Now that's what I'm talking about!")

[addendum 2: a slight variation, that might actually do better at rendering the English original is –Αυτό μάλιστα! (whatever αυτό may be)]

Then, there are a couple of rather cryptic candidates, that nonetheless fit the bill just fine, such as –Αυτά είναι! or even –Εδώ είσαι!

[addendum: both need to be said with certain… euphoric intonation]

…and a bunch of more proper equivalents that I'm sure our fellow forum members won't be late with…

 

[Theseus]

Thanks, m_a_a! We often use it in a negative sense,which I should have mentioned. Here is an example:-
In 1944, Hal Boyle wrote in his column, Leaves From a War Correspondent's Notebook that in England, «You don't say someone gives you a pain in the neck. You just remark 'He's not my cup of tea.”
Apart from Boyle being wrong about ‘a pain in the neck’ (in fact, we often say ‘he is a pain in the neck, when we are being polite, or a pain in the -rse when being rude), I think for the negative use of the phrase I would say in Greek αυτός είναι κακός μπελάς/ δεν είναι του γούστου μου/ κολλιτσίδα μου έγινε αυτός. BTW: can you say vulgarly αυτός είναι χέσε μέσα or is this just an isolated phrase meaning ‘sh-it happens’? Truth be told, I don’t really know how exactly this phrase is ysed but if it is a general vulgarism how exactly do Greeks use it?

 

[AoratiMelani]

Copying from Wordreference: [αυτό] είναι του γούστου μου, [αυτό] είναι το στιλ μου / [εδώ / μαζί του/της] είμαι στο στοιχείο μου.
And some contributions from me: αυτά/τέτοια μ' αρέσουν, αυτά/τέτοια γουστάρω, [αυτός/αυτή/αυτό] μου ταιριάζει / δεν μου ταιριάζει, [αυτός/αυτή] μου κάνει πολύ κλικ / δεν μου κάνει καθόλου κλικ, [τον/την] πάω πολύ / δεν [τον/την] πάω καθόλου.

 

[AoratiMelani]

BTW: can you say vulgarly αυτός είναι χέσε μέσα or is this just an isolated phrase meaning ‘sh-it happens’? Truth be told, I don’t really know how exactly this phrase is ysed but if it is a general vulgarism how exactly do Greeks use it?

The phrase χέσε μέσα is usually said isolated, meaning "it's all fucked up", referring to a situation.

You can also say αυτός είναι χέσε μέσα, but the register would be very different than "he's not my cup of tea" and the meaning also is a bit different, more like "he's totally fucked up". Much stronger and more vulgar.

 

[Theseus]

Thanks for all these, AoratiMelani! All the negatives as well.

 

[m_a_a_]

Other phrases one might use to express utter disapproval of someone or something (at least I might use them) is the very minimalistic –Μακριά! (an abbreviated variant, perhaps, of Μακριά από μας), or the possibly even more negative –Μη σου τύχει!…
I would say these almost suggest that the person, thing, or situation in question is a "plague" of sorts…

 

[Theseus]

So apotropaics both with μη σου τύχοι being the stronger. Thanks for all the time you have spent on my behalf! I am so grateful for all the efforts of colleagues.