..to wonder why everyone refers to the evening meal the kids have as 'tea' not 'dinner'?

[Tweettwo]

We don't live up North so why call it 'tea'?

Only posh people call their evening meal "dinner".

Why do we have "dinner ladies" and not "lunch ladies"?

I'm in Yorkshire and it's definitely 'tea' up here - whether it's the kids eating or adults.
Dinner is mid-day meal round these parts.

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Though I call my kids dinner, 'tea' because they eat at 4pm which seems too early to be dinner iyswim!

Dinner here for adults and children. In the south though where "tea" is a drink.

I'm wondering how English as foreign language teachers teach the words for mealtimes? Do they get into the nuances of geography and class or go for breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper...

It's breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Tea is a drink.

I really hate when people refer to the midday meal as dinner and the evening meal as tea.

Dexters, ! My new computer has an overzealous spellcheck and regularly gets me into trouble.

Tanith, as you'll see above I got it wrong anyway. But I like 'elevensies'; it sounds quite Hobbit-esque.

Do some people really have supper?

How can you still want more food before going to bed after you have already eaten an evening meal?

Dinner here and we all eat together, we don't have a nanny and separate nursery wing to faciliate a tea for children.

because my husband is from up north so dinner had 2 meanings for me: the main meal of the day, for him: lunch.
so we have lunch and tea

MumSnotBU Practically, I hope

hanging nothing to do with being posh. It's more a geographical thing and something else for people in the north to hate people in the south for, what with "that London", house prices, accents and a hundred other issues.

PIL and DH say Breakfast, Dinner, Tea.

My family and I say Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

I thought supper was a late meal you had before bed? Supper is what really posh people call dinner Worra

tea is what the dc have at the school's afternoon club...

eternal you hate it? There are hundreds of words and phrases that differ with each region. Hate is a bit strong.

No, I'm with Hanging; it's class not just geography.

Writer, we used to have our tea at about 5.30, so I'd be hungry again before bed and need some supper. I wouldn't mind betting that having an early tea-time is partly a class thing as well.

I agree with WeAreEternal - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. And tea is a drink.

Also, I don't believe in '11s's', I just believe in snacking Well, I am 35 weeks pregnant so you can let me off...

No supper here either. If you have a big, filling enough dinner, supper isn't really needed is it? Suppose it depends what time you have your dinner, though.

OnlyLovers it happens to the best of us

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner or tea interchangeably

If it's feeding children on their own at 5pm or whenever, I'd call it tea.

I grew up with breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper as a piece of toast before bed. DH has grown up with breakfast, lunch, tea (drink and a bit of cake) and supper. For him, dinner is something you go out for. These days I flip-flop between dinner and supper for the evening meal.

What I really don't understand is why (even in my mind) the alternative to a packed lunch is a school dinner. They are both the same meal!

I am in London, but grew up in SW. DH grew up in SE.

No one here says lunch unless they're posh

What about a packed lunch?

Is that still considered posh?

DH does my nut - he talks about taking me out on my birthday for "my tea." This to me means little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, otherwise if he's taking me out in the evening on a date, it's dinner, how could it not be? Chance would be a fine thing

or you could just call it grub....

I really hate the use of the word "tea" as in "evening meal". I can't bring myself to use it. I associate supper with an adult evening meal e.g. supper party and dinner with a child's evening meal, which I think is standard for the US (I'm American).