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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:
PuzzlesintheMorning · 19/04/2026 14:52

SALaw · 19/04/2026 14:46

So how do you indicate it came from the chippy rather than cooked at home?

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Prefix it with "takeaway".

BringBackCatsEyes · 19/04/2026 14:50

SALaw · 19/04/2026 14:46

So how do you indicate it came from the chippy rather than cooked at home?

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The chip van's in the village, shall we get fish and chips?
Let's get fish and chips on the way home.
Here's some money, go and get fish and chips love.
Can't be arsed cooking, shall we have fish and chips?

If I said we were going to have fish and chips for dinner they'd know I was not cooking them because I don't think I've ever cooked fish and chips. I've cooked fish and I've cooked fish, but not together.

ERthree · 19/04/2026 14:48

Piggywaspushed · 19/04/2026 13:14

I say 'do you want tea?' btu that apparently annoys some on here too!

We could be very Scottish and use' you'll no be wanting a tea then?' or 'you'll have had your cup before you came, hey?'

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That is Edinburgh. On the west coast we feed folk.

SALaw · 19/04/2026 14:46

ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 11:34

Oh definitely. Fish and chips! Sausage and chips! Anything with chips! But ‘chippy tea’ - rage.

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So how do you indicate it came from the chippy rather than cooked at home?

ERthree · 19/04/2026 14:46

isthismylifenow · 19/04/2026 12:56

What is wrong with lunch?

We have breakfast, lunch and supper/dinner.

But then again, I do think that tea used as a term for your evening meal (dinner or supper) falls into the twee category.

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In Scotland we have High Tea.

Thepeopleversuswork · 19/04/2026 14:46

ainsleysanob · 19/04/2026 14:42

Because it feels gross in my mouth when I say it and I hate the sound of the word when someone else says it!

🤢🤣

I just say ‘we’re going out tonight for something to eat’!

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I'm not crazy about the word "meal" either. There's something very mean and parsimonious about it.

Have lunch, have dinner/supper, have some food etc. "Meal" makes it sound like something measured out according to WW2 rationing rules.

likelysuspect · 19/04/2026 14:46

Yes I very much like a cuppa

MabelRoyds · 19/04/2026 14:45

I don’t know anyone who has ever used the word cuppa. I actually thought it disappeared after the seventies. Isn’t it from the era of Carry On films? Sounds cosy.

ainsleysanob · 19/04/2026 14:42

ForCosyLion · 19/04/2026 14:08

Meal!!!! What on earth is wrong with that?! We say "to go out for a meal" and "evening meal" all the time!

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Because it feels gross in my mouth when I say it and I hate the sound of the word when someone else says it!

🤢🤣

I just say ‘we’re going out tonight for something to eat’!

Heggettypeg · 19/04/2026 14:42

ThisJadeBear · 19/04/2026 14:28

I still stay dinner for something at midday and tea for evening meal.
And I don’t live on a cobbled street nor do I wear clogs.
Still Northern though!

Yes. I grew up in Yorkshire and it was dinner in the middle of the day and tea in the evening.

Original poster
ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 14:36

Supper makes me think of cheese on toast. Mmmm

OP posts:
hahabahbag · 19/04/2026 14:36

Don’t use most of these phrases myself but I can’t get worked up if people do, my dd does so it’s not an older generation thing, it’s to do with friendship groups, work colleagues etc. (she bizarrely has a different accent to myself and my other dd, slightly akin to her father but not really.

BunnyLake · 19/04/2026 14:34

ForCosyLion · 19/04/2026 14:10

People who say "supper" to mean "dinner" or "tea" when they also mean "dinner."

Supper is a light snack before bed. Tea is sandwiches, cake, and cups of tea. Supper and tea are NOT hot evening meals!!!

Although I’ve never used the word supper (maybe being a southerner), if I heard it as a child it always made me think of a bowl of soup before bed. No idea why.

Thepeopleversuswork · 19/04/2026 14:32

ForCosyLion · 19/04/2026 13:02

"our little family". 🤢

”My/our little family” makes me want to stab myself in the eyes. So twee and self congratulatory. It invariably is uttered by the sorts of people who never see anyone other than “my little family”.

In the same vein I hate the phrase “as a couple”. There’s something about it which implies a really codependent and stifling relationship.

ThisCraftySeal · 19/04/2026 14:32

Absolutely hate the phrase “it doesn’t sit right with me” hate it with a passion

BunnyLake · 19/04/2026 14:30

Hotafternoon · 19/04/2026 14:26

There is no issue with the word lunch, it's the word "picky" in front of it Ii.e picky bits, picky tea, picky lunch ... 🙄

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Not heard of picky lunch but I agree picky is annoying.

ThisJadeBear · 19/04/2026 14:28

I still stay dinner for something at midday and tea for evening meal.
And I don’t live on a cobbled street nor do I wear clogs.
Still Northern though!

Hotafternoon · 19/04/2026 14:26

BunnyLake · 19/04/2026 13:09

Lunch is a proper word so don’t know why people have an issue with it. I know it’s luncheon but no one is saying they’re having luncheon unless it’s at Buckingham Palace. 😂

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There is no issue with the word lunch, it's the word "picky" in front of it Ii.e picky bits, picky tea, picky lunch ... 🙄

PhaedraTwo · 19/04/2026 14:24

PurplishGemstones · 19/04/2026 14:16

Tea for evening meal is a regional thing. It's a working class term used in Scotland, possibly less so now

I come from the NE and live in the South. Still call it tea.

I tend to switch between the 2, depending on the time the "hot evening meal" is eaten;or supper if it's very late.

There is a lot of insular snobbery on this thread.

Original poster
ConstantlyFuriosa · 19/04/2026 14:22

ForCosyLion · 19/04/2026 14:10

People who say "supper" to mean "dinner" or "tea" when they also mean "dinner."

Supper is a light snack before bed. Tea is sandwiches, cake, and cups of tea. Supper and tea are NOT hot evening meals!!!

With bags of lettuce, tomatoes and lashings of ginger beer?

OP posts:
NormasArse · 19/04/2026 14:19

Cuppa seems more southern; brew more northern.

PurplishGemstones · 19/04/2026 14:16

Tea for evening meal is a regional thing. It's a working class term used in Scotland, possibly less so now

I come from the NE and live in the South. Still call it tea.

PhaedraTwo · 19/04/2026 14:16

ForCosyLion · 19/04/2026 14:10

People who say "supper" to mean "dinner" or "tea" when they also mean "dinner."

Supper is a light snack before bed. Tea is sandwiches, cake, and cups of tea. Supper and tea are NOT hot evening meals!!!

Again, a poster who doesn't understand regional differences. Supper and tea most certainly are hot evening meals.

And whilst I'm happy to call the hot evening meal I eat sometime between 7 to 8.30 "dinner" it would have been ridiculous to call the hot evening meal my son had as a small child around 5-6ish "dinner". That was "tea"

PurplishGemstones · 19/04/2026 14:12

Meal is my number two most hated word

It's right up there for me too. My mil was lovely but she did have a habit of saying, every single afternoon "What are we having for the meal?"

It got so that I had to leave the room in case I exploded.
I really, really hate that word. It sounds so. . . . . . functional.

PhaedraTwo · 19/04/2026 14:12

CheddarCheeseAndCrispSandwich · 19/04/2026 13:34

Where I’m from we say ‘brew’…eg “I’m dying for a brew!”

Would that irritate you too?

I love regional differences. 🥰

There's nothing wrong with "dying for a brew" or "dying for a cuppa"

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