If you say “afters” to mean dessert or pudding…

[BottleBlondeMachiavelli]

….where are you, your parents and/or grandparents from?

Is it a class thing, or a regionalism, or fairly neutral?

@user31908734289
“Sweet” sets my teeth on edge!

Me too. Had an old relative who was WC but a terrific snob, so we had sweet, toilet, pardon, serviette, lounge, house had a name not a number, creeping up to rich folk, pretend hunting rifles hung up in the dining room, hunt prints on the walls (he didn’t hunt or shoot), name dropping, classic posh looking shoes that were plastic, ditto posh looking shirts but in polyester (and drip-dry bri-nylon back in the day).

To be fair, just like many of the old fashioned landed gentry, he wasn’t over keen on soap and water.

From my dad - he's from Lancashire

WC one side, posh the other, mix of London and all over the place! Always used ‘afters’: Breakfast, lunch, tea (mid afternoon), dinner, afters, supper (a little something before bed) every day. We are a very food focused family!

I’m team pudding. Background : Derbyshire, very working class.

I'm from South Wales and I think we said afters and pudding interchangeably.

Nowadays I say pudding, unless it's cheese and crackers.

usually i say seconds if i want more of the main meal
then for afters its either pudding or dessert

My grandfather said afters and he was born in australia as was his parents and their parents!

Never said it in my family, but DH says it was what was said where he came from in Chatham, Kent.

Because it's used as a general thing for something sweet after dinner, same as afters. You could ask after and after Is if we're going to start being pedantic

I realise that. However, in our house, it was always pudding/sweet, toilet and serviette. To add to this linguistic shame, we also had a settee in the lounge. To be fair to my parents and, especially my grandparents, they were very much products of the post-war era where people had aspirations, especially via grammar schools, and worked hard to better themselves. I was born in the sixties and things were very different. Good manners were not optional extras. This was very much polite society and our social circle consisted mainly of teachers, nurses, Christian ministers, shopkeepers and the type of trade that was considered top notch. My Dad was a printer and this was considered to be the gold standard of trades. Quiet respectability was the social aim. Education was seen as the way forward. We didn't attend the volume of after school activities that today's children do, but we were encouraged to join the guiding/scouting movements and have music or dancing lessons. We also had swimming lessons and some children did sporting activities. We had a lot more freedom, too. I love John Betjeman's poetry except for Pass the Fishknives, Norma as it is very snobbish, albeit tongue in cheek, about families just like mine - families who would probably be described as moving from the upper working classes to the lower middle classes.

This is 1the post l thought I had quoted re my above post.

When I grew up it was "afters" my mum and dad are from east london. Now we call it pudding.

Interestingly, if we’re talking old fashioned posh “afters”- particualry when said with invisible speech marks-is posher than “dessert”. Simply because it’s an English word rather than a French one….

From Yorkshire, and always pudding, even if it is strawberries and cream

Never heard anyone say it in real life, only read it in books. I've lived in NW and SE England.

Always called afters when I was growing up. Parents from Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

South West Wales and say after…

From Devon and throwing another 'sweet' into the ring (upwardly mobile via rocket fuel mother from London, farming family Devonshire Dad).

Yorkshire

Why limit yourselves? 😊

I’m from east Lancs originally and I think we used “afters” a bit when I was growing up. “Sweet” was the word we used the most. From a very solidly working class family.
Now I’m a London posho I say pudding 😊

Just asked 18yo ds who looked at me weirdly when I said afters. He’s never heard it referred to as that which shows how long it is since I said it.
he says it’s def pudding because we’re not posh enough for dessert

Parents emigrated to England in the 70s, we've never used afters.

Now here is a fork for your pastries,
And do use the couch for your feet;
I know that I wanted to ask you -
Is trifle sufficient for sweet.

How to get on in society,
John Betjeman

Wildly snobbish poem. But does give clear guidance on non-U behaviour. (n.b. I am v. non-U).