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Comment by ksherlock | Hacker News Reader

> There's no hard rule about where national airspace ends and space begins

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? There's no hard rule about when life begins but killing a 5 year old isn't a 22nd trimester abortion, it's murder. 18-60'000 feet is class A, controlled airspace in the US and Canada.

When the US sent U2s over the USSR, the rationale wasn't that 70,000 feet was "space", it was that it was that 70,000 feet was too high for soviet radars detect and and soviet planes to intercept.

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I don’t know where the parent got their wrong information but US airspace is pretty clear to anyone that knows anything about aviation. It’s not sone vague thing no one can define. That’s pretty silly.

> What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

What does this mean? I don’t see a reference to tea in the comment you are replying to.

It’s a euphemism for a nonsequitor, OP is asking what balloon size has to do with it being okay to shoot it down since there’s nothing about size in protected airspace laws.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/price_of_tea_in_China

Maybe would have been clearer to use a nonseqiotor that doesn't involve China- for a second there I thought that there was something linking these balloons to tea trade or sanctions or something

It's a common expression https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_that_got_to_do_with...

It’s not so common any more. I bet less than 5% of gen Z know it.

It's an uncommon expression then. The commenter might be British. Anyway, anyone reading this thread knows it now.

I recently met someone who uses the expression "country mile" all the time. Hadn't heard it before but it's cool. "That's more popular by a country mile" Country miles are obviously better than city miles. So now I'll probably end up using it.

A country mile is often hot and dusty and walked uphill both ways by your grandpa. Time stands still and the cicadas buzz. It’s bigger than a city mile even in how much imagination it takes to conjure.

I’m a millennial living in US (although non native English speaker) and had no idea.

There are many things it seems GenZ is unaware of but it is very much a common, well-known expression for more serious people.

Does more serious equal older? I’m already too serious!

I know quite a few teenagers who are far more serious than my middle-aged self.

i've never heard of it.

My mother used to say that all the time!

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