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AIBU?

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Original poster

Having ‘a cuppa’

537 replies

ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 10:49

Why does this sentence infuriate me so? I already know I’m probably being unreasonable but it’s so grating. I can’t be the only one?

OP posts:
BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 20:08

Yeah my family are from there but they are southern! North starts about Sheffield.

i feel this is a whole other topic!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 20:03

Because, despite what you all seem to think, there’s an area in the middle. Can you guess what it’s called!

BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 20:01

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:56

Except not everyone is a northerner or a southerner.. there are whole
swathes of the country which aren’t north or south 😬

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How can you not be either northern or southern? I’m northern born btw so happily in the tea time based camp! Southern DH has never heard the phrase!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:56

BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 19:50

It’s an easy way to distinguish northerners from southerners!

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Except not everyone is a northerner or a southerner.. there are whole
swathes of the country which aren’t north or south 😬

MadamRaz · 19/04/2026 19:52

A friend of mine calls it a mugga. "Popping in for a mugga?"

BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 19:50

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:51

In some areas it may be.

i have never called the evening meal tea so I wouldn’t expect to differentiate

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It’s an easy way to distinguish northerners from southerners!

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:47

nomas · 19/04/2026 19:44

It sounded like you thought I was trying to pass of AI search results as my own words.

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Then you were wrong. No need to get defensive when someone isn’t have a pop at you.

Original poster
ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 19:47

I wonder what AI really thinks about the use of ‘cuppa’.

OP posts:
nomas · 19/04/2026 19:44

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:40

I know that. I wasn’t accusing anyone of anything - just commenting ‘good old AI’. Not sure why it elicited that face

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It sounded like you thought I was trying to pass of AI search results as my own words.

Mobysdick · 19/04/2026 19:41

Brew. Rage inducing.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:40

nomas · 19/04/2026 19:35

It literally says it is in the first line Hmm

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I know that. I wasn’t accusing anyone of anything - just commenting ‘good old AI’. Not sure why it elicited that face

Topraythingsgetbetter · 19/04/2026 19:38

asdbaybeeee · 19/04/2026 11:04

What’s your view on holibobs ?

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😂

nomas · 19/04/2026 19:35

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:05

Ah good old AI…

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It literally says it is in the first line Hmm

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:28

ruethewhirl · 19/04/2026 19:27

Are your horizons seriously that narrow?

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No.

ruethewhirl · 19/04/2026 19:27

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:31

No because tea isn’t a meal unless it’s afternoon tea

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Are your horizons seriously that narrow?

Jellybelly80 · 19/04/2026 19:27

I’ve no objection to the word cuppa but I don’t use it. I always say cup of tea. What really bothers me though is ‘pension pot’ and people saying they ‘portioned out a meal’.

cardibach · 19/04/2026 19:26

SALaw · 19/04/2026 16:51

Em I don’t think I have? It’s about annoying abbreviations of words, that people find twee or childish. “Individual pie” is just a description.

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I was told I didn’t understand the thread when I questioned that one too. It’s odd.

PhaedraTwo · 19/04/2026 19:22

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:31

No because tea isn’t a meal unless it’s afternoon tea

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That's a really useful contribution coming after several posters from North Britain explaining that tea does mean an evening meal.

I mentioned it as being a working class thing in Scotland, but thinking more, it's not particularly class based.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 19:05

nomas · 19/04/2026 18:59

Google Gemini tells me that tea started off as afternoon tea and then was adopted in northern tows as their evening meal:

Tea as a meal was invented in two different ways by two different classes in the 19th century, resulting in two distinct traditions:

  • Afternoon Tea (Upper Class): Invented by the upper class (specifically Anna Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, around 1840) to bridge the long gap between a light lunch and a late 8 p.m. dinner . This was a "low tea" consisting of tea, sandwiches, and cake, served in the late afternoon.
  • High Tea (Working Class): Developed by the working class as a substantial, hot meal, served at a "high" dining table around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. after work . It was often the main meal of the day and served to provide energy to labourers.
  • Te-derived (Sea Route): Coastal Chinese dialects (specifically Min Nan in Fujian) pronounce it te . Dutch traders, who dominated maritime tea trade, brought this term to Europe (Dutch: thee, English: tea, French: thé)

I call my evening meal tea as DH is from Yorkshire and it just caught on.

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Ah good old AI…

Squirrelchops1 · 19/04/2026 19:01

Sorry not sorry i say cuppa.
Brew is only said with a Northern accent (Apologies to everyone from Northern England).
I can't stand picky tea or chippy tea. Holibobs is childish.
Dont get me started on counting down 'sleeps' to anything....

nomas · 19/04/2026 18:59

BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 18:34

Tea is and has always been the evening meal.

dinner can be at lunch or at tea time depending on when you have the main meal of the day!

Show quote history

Google Gemini tells me that tea started off as afternoon tea and then was adopted in northern tows as their evening meal:

Tea as a meal was invented in two different ways by two different classes in the 19th century, resulting in two distinct traditions:

  • Afternoon Tea (Upper Class): Invented by the upper class (specifically Anna Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, around 1840) to bridge the long gap between a light lunch and a late 8 p.m. dinner . This was a "low tea" consisting of tea, sandwiches, and cake, served in the late afternoon.
  • High Tea (Working Class): Developed by the working class as a substantial, hot meal, served at a "high" dining table around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. after work . It was often the main meal of the day and served to provide energy to labourers.
  • Te-derived (Sea Route): Coastal Chinese dialects (specifically Min Nan in Fujian) pronounce it te . Dutch traders, who dominated maritime tea trade, brought this term to Europe (Dutch: thee, English: tea, French: thé)

I call my evening meal tea as DH is from Yorkshire and it just caught on.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:56

ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 13:05

Oh god, I hate ‘meds’. Why? Is it because it diminishes the seriousness of having to take them?!

I don’t know why. But I hate it!

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I say meds because it is just an abbreviation

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:53

Hellohelga · 19/04/2026 13:56

Sorry folks I’ve got to stick up for the charming variety of shortened expressions in our language. Butty, footy, bevvy and cuppa are all fine upstanding traditional terms. However the only acceptable term for wine is vino and my four legged hairy pals are the doggos. Queens English begone.

Or Queen’s English? Or even Queens’ English if you mean plural 😬

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/04/2026 18:51

BananaPeels · 19/04/2026 18:34

Tea is and has always been the evening meal.

dinner can be at lunch or at tea time depending on when you have the main meal of the day!

Show quote history

In some areas it may be.

i have never called the evening meal tea so I wouldn’t expect to differentiate

IWaffleAlot · 19/04/2026 18:48

Yanbu it sounds very uneducated for some reason. Probably the same type who uses picky bits.