Do you understand the term "elevenses"?

[redskyanight]

My company has decided to introduce a monthly "elevenses" where they will provide drinks and biscuits and staff are encouraged to come and talk to colleagues they don't normally speak to.

I was chatting about this at home and 20 year old DS said he'd absolutely no idea what "elevenses" were and had never heard the term before. DH reckons it is an old fashioned concept these days and will be incomprehensible to anyone under 35.

So, straw poll - have you/ your DC heard of elevenses and is this now an outdated term?

No not brunch - that's more of a meal just not at a conventional meal time.
Elevenses is traditionally a biscuit or two and a hot drink.

Cup of tea and a biscuit at 11am.
My GPs did it everyday.
My teens have never heard the word.

We have Elevenses in our home and our cat also recognises the word as well as he has his mid-morning biscuits at 11am. When we're at work he has Elevenses on his own via his timed snack dispenser but when someone is home he will always appear at 11am and wait for his biscuits.

Back in the early 2000's I worked at in a civil service office that still followed the Elevenses routine and then had afternoon tea at 2.45pm. We all went and made a drink in the staff room at 11am and sat chatting until 11.15am and then repeated the whole thing at 2.45pm until 3pm. I found it quite bizarre to start with but actually enjoyed it.

Early forties- I WFH and always stop for elevenses, usually a brew and a few tunnocks. Always did when I was a legal secretary years ago, think that's where I'd have heard the term originally.

I would just add that our DC's know and understand what Elevenses is but do not partake themselves as that's for 'old' people!

I'm 34 and we always had "elevenses" at break at primary school - normally a cup of squash and a biscuit. As an adult I have a cup of tea/coffee and something like a cereal bar at work mid-morning if I have the time.

I'm 31 and yes, I know what it means.

It doesn't mean brunch.

That’s funny as I mentioned elevenses to DS of a similar age & he said ‘what’s that?’ He thought I’d made up the word!!

I do know the the term (49)but haven’t heard it used for a long time, I doubt my girls would know what it means (25 + 27)

ive never heard that - what part of the country? I love local dialects.

I’m now dying to ask DS as he’s a big LOTR fan! I’ve never seen it, so didn’t know elevenses was a thing for Hobbits!

DH had never heard of it.

Yes I know the term but it is quite old fashioned.

Life
Nowadays is different with instant access to coffee and snacks and a culture in some places of snacking on the move

We call it a "coffee break" here in Canada. ☺️
I like "elevenses" though! 😀

We're in Sussex. But mum is from Cornwall, so maybe I know it from there?

Of course I know what 'elevenses' means.

(Though if you're in a couple who wfh or are retired, it may mean something a bit different. )

My kids (8 and 5) are big fans of "elevenses" and Enid Blyton.

One of their favourite school holiday treats is a trip into our nearest city and having "elevenses" either in the glass houses or in fancy cafe.

Could be taken early as half past tenses.

I am 55 and familiar with Elevenses. My first job had a 6.30 start and we used to stop for ninesies as well😀

My grandparents used to have elevenses. It was coffee and a cake. I always thought it was something well to do people did. These days, I have a coffee or a cuppa when I feel like it.

We have elevenses in our house at weekends and during the holidays. 12 year old DD knows the word and understands it to mean a mid-morning cup of coffee and a biscuit and a little sit down. We get up early and are out walking dogs and wrangling ponies so by the time 11 o'clock arrives we're ready for a breather. I suppose if you get up late, it's not really needed as you'll just be washing up your breakfast dishes in time for lunch anyway.

I’m 60 next year, as a small child, Elevenses were when Jimmy Young was on the radio about to do his daily recipe and we’d have a drink and a biscuit.

I’m 52 and we always had elevenses at home when I was growing up. I hadn’t realised the term had fallen out of use, but now I think about it, I can’t remember the last term I heard it.
We also always had tea mid-afternoon - a cup of tea and a bit of cake or a couple of biscuits.

I'm familiar with the term but would never (and had never as a child) used the term, I'm in my early 40s.
In my part of Scotland we'd call it a fly cup with a piece (or 'funcy piece' if there was cake or a chocolate traybake on offer).

My summer holiday job in the 70’s when I was home from University. Loved it, preparing the trolley, filling up the urn, counting the chocolate biscuits and cigarettes ( 36 1/2p for 20) and then pushing it around a floor of the office works.
And again at 3pm with cakes.