..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'?

Don't be fooled by my username: I'm officially a southerner, so therefore the evening meal is dinner here.

I have even indoctrinated dh into my ways. He's from a proper Lancashire family so confusing abounds.

Lunch and dinner are the same bloody thing. Its breakfast, dinner then tea and you can piss of with supper! Im from the north east.

We all have tea together. We usually have our dinner for tea. We very rarely have dinner for lunch.

According to Dennis Wheatley, in Three Inquisitive People, Dinner was served at 8 and was quite a lengthy meal - over an hour, so at least 3 courses. They then went out to Supper much later - nearly midnight - and it was a gastronomic meal again with a starter and main course and they were toying with the idea of a dessert.

1930s Society London, it was. Where did they put it all, I ask myself?!

They also had Breakfast and Luncheon (which is MegaPosh for Lunch) and I think they did have Tea, too.

No nibbling at the Quavers under the desk for them

it's tea if it's served around 5pm ish, dinner if served closer to 7pm.

THe meal in the middle of the day is ALWAYS lunch :)

Tea is a drink with bread and jam.

Worra you've got me there but of course ones packed lunch is eaten at dinner time. Unless you have school dinners served by dinner ladies

WorraLiberty - for my partners food he takes to work, I call it a 'pack up' and there was actually a debate about that term on here last week!

ElizaPickford - you have just reminded me that my partners family call it a 'birthday tea'. It irritates me and I think they do it to sound cutesy They also call it a 'spread' when having put various children's food items on a table. What's wrong with saying 'Come round for Annie's birthday, we've put some food/snacks/nibbles out on the table for everyone!'

Breakfast, lunch & supper here. Kids' supper at 5, DH & me have supper whenever he gets in from work so usually some point 730-10pm.
Dinner is only called dinner when it's posher, eg people round, or candles & smart clothes etc. and that's instead of supper.

Tea is cup of tea and biscuit at 4ish.

(High tea is tea with cakes and sandwiches too & used to happen at my granny's house)

Quite a lot of people here have supper (toast/crisps/cereal/sandwich). I think it's because they have dinner which they call tea ridiculously early at about 4:30.

Oh God the spread. Makes me think that all that will be available will be a tub of Flora.

RL20 - are they from the North West?

Breakfast = morning
Brunch =mid-morning
Lunch = 12-2pm or afternoon
Tea = 3-4.30pm( I think you can also evening tea.
Super = from 7pm

Someone once told me in England super is after 10pm in the night. Before that is dinner.
I have never understood dinner.
Why have dinner ladies at lunch time?

My DC have their last meal of the day around 5pm and it usually consists of sandwiches, beans on toast or similar. In no one's book is beans on toast at 5pm "dinner". It's tea.

I have dinner with DH at about 8.30pm when he gets home.

Hanging basket, I was just thinking along the same lines, I send in the 'dinner money' to school every week

We have
Breakfast
Dinner
Tea
Any other time is a snack
I'm in Staffordshire

If dc have had cooked lunch at nursery and a pm snack they only have "tea" in the evening (wraps, cheese, cucumber etc) if they are having cooked meal in the evening it's dinner.
I get that from my parents. We always had Sunday roastfor lunch on a Sunday so in the evening on Sundays we had tea. Sandwiches and cake. I'm from the south east as far south as you can go and parents are from Surrey.

Another vote for children having their tea before the grownups had dinner together in peace (DM, Yorkshire, did it in the 70s and we got stuff like Crispy pancakes or beans on toast while they got meat and two veg). Now we just all have dinner.

Breakfast, dinner, tea, supper

Tea is afternoon tea at 5pm, when the kids eat.

Dinner is post 7pm, when the adults eat.

Us cockneys call it tea, and we're definitely southerners!!!
Although I often think cockneys have far more in common with northerners than other londoners especially 'them under the river'

Packed Lunch is called packing up or packers by me but snappin' by DH.

The kids call packed lunch for school sandwiches or butties, which I hate.

Breakfast, dinner, tea.

No wonder posh folk need supper if they don't have their dinner until teatime. They'll be starving!

I hate the word lunch. And I do mean hate. It makes me squirm when I hear it. I have a list of words like that but that one is by far the worst. Ugh!

No wonder posh folk need supper if they don't have their dinner until teatime. They'll be starving!

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

If its before 6 its tea (adults and children alike) which can then be followed by supper
If its after 6 its dinner and supper would just be very greedy!

No-one has mentioned high tea - no idea why its high but dp always called weekend late afternoon meal high tea - always cold food such as sandwiches, cake and scones