If someone has asked you pop round at tea time

[MyDuvetDay]

What time are you popping round?

4pm is tea time unless your in the north then tea time means dinner time and that’s 5-6pm

6 ish, but I would have only just arrived home from work, so it wouldn't exactly be convenient.

And if somebody said come round after tea, that would be 6.30 ish, if they said come round tomorrow night , that would be after 7.

My immediate thought was 5pm (though I personally eat my evening meal much later than this). In practice I would ask the person to clarify what time they meant.

I ask for a specific time. I hate it when people say this. I've got children, tea time is the busiest time of the day so I don't want anyone popping in and I don't really want to turn up at someone's house when they're eating.

5

I'd ask them what time is "tea-time" and go then.

Why did you ask?

4-430

4pm but I would ask

I’d ask, but if for some inexplicable reason that was impossible I’d probably guess they meant about 4pm if they were southerners - cup of tea and biscuit or no earlier than 5pm if they were northerners (‘high tea’). If they were midlanders or any other part of the UK I don’t know!

Is every tea a high tea? We only had that on Sundays.

5 pm ish

I’m asking because not long ago a kind neighbour said this to me. In the end, I wasn’t able to see her that afternoon. But I’ve since been dwelling on the fact that if our get together were going ahead I wouldn’t have known what time I was expected and didn’t have the wherewithal at the time she invited me to ask what she meant. She specified “tea time” with such assurance that I felt I should have known what time that was. So I am wondering if there is a universal understanding of when tea time is. I am forrin so frequently misunderstand British norms…

Between 5pm and 6pm.

Same, we eat anywhere from 6pm to 8pm. I would have to clarify what time they meant

5.30 if she’s northern, 4pm if she’s southern. Basically afternoon tea or dinner tea.

I'm autistic and I hate things that are unclear, so I would HAVE to ask what sort of time they were thinking of AND whether it was for a meal (depending on what time it was... 4pm I probably wouldn't ask, after 5pm I would).

I was once asked to a fellow mature student's house with my children for 3pm on a Sunday. No mention had been made of food and we generally had Sunday lunch around 1pm. We happened to have had a HUGE Sunday lunch that day. She was cooking as we got there and it turned out we had been invited to eat. The food was ready for about 4pm - she was from Nigeria so it wasn't anything we had had before but it was delicious! My children and I were all still full from lunch but we all made a really valiant effort to eat what we could. I don't think I have ever been so proud of my children as I was then - which is saying something. However I would never want to put myself, or anyone else, in that position again.

This is interesting as I’d say dinner 5-6, tea about 7!!!

4-5pm

would you expect anyone else to guess that though, it’s definitely not the norm anywhere I know of!

Except it’s not in the South East. Teatime is a cup of tea and some cake / biscuits at about 3 or 4 pm.

I’ve never in my life called the evening meal tea and I’ve never heard it referred to as Tea except on TV

It's not perdantic, it's what any normal person would do to make sure they arrive at the expected time isn't it?

Why do people complicate life when a couple of words would remove any confusion?

I've seen these threads before and I always wonder why the OP either doesn't ask or if they are the inviter say an actual time

Baffling 😂

As this thread shows, there’s no ‘norm’ re what is meant by ‘teatime’.
‘Afternoon tea’ is around 3-4pm - a little something between lunch and (late) dinner
’High tea’ is a more substantial meal replacing dinner around 5-6pm, and might be supplemented by a supper of a drink and biscuits later. In areas which do this, lunch may be called dinner.

Of course ‘Sunday dinner’ is usually at lunchtime though could be later.

Some posh people say ‘supper’ when they mean some sort of informal dinner though.

What should be clear from this is that no one should expect you to know and if they don’t mention a time do ask!

For a cup of tea it could be 11am or around 3pm-4pm. To eat something then 5pm-6pm