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AIBU?

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Original poster

To hate the term 'Tea'

650 replies

ditzyglamour · 04/10/2017 21:29

I guess I know I am as it seems the majority use it. But to me, its dinner and growing up I can never recall hearing anyone refer to it as 'Tea'.

I just find it so flowery and annoying.

Got that off my chest now 😃.

Anyone else?

OP posts:
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5
MrsJayy · 04/10/2017 21:52

I hate dinner for lunch but say Tea .just fine for evening meal but if im going out to eat at night i say dinner 😕 Supper makes me cringe it is a horrible word said in a twee way by nigel slater.

PoorYorick · 04/10/2017 21:52

It's regional and it's based on whether the area was more affluent and would have tea at 4pm to tide one over until a late supper, or less affluent and it really was tea as the only meal after luncheon (and therefore consumed earlier, but not as early as 4pm).

That's really all there is to it, so don't take it personally.

HeyMicky · 04/10/2017 21:52

Breakfast
Lunch
Tea (mid afternoon, a drink, with cakes)
Tea (for children, about 5pm; sometimes nursery tea)
Supper (informal evening meal; a kitchen supper is even less formal)
Dinner (more formal evening meal or eating out)

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 21:52

Tea is working class. I grew up on a council estate in Essex and you had breakfast, dinner, tea. Or, when at school, breakfast, lunch, tea. Tea was eaten at about 4.30, when we got home from school, in front of the TV.

Tea consisted of main dish, and afters. Not pudding. Afters.

Oh, when we went round people's houses as a family, that was always for tea as well. Served about 4pm.

ujerneyson · 04/10/2017 21:53

Lunch is the meal in the middle of the day, dinner is the evening meal and tea is a cup of tea and piece of cake mid afternoon. I can't bear people calling the evening meal tea. I don't buy the regional thing, my family are northerners and have never referred to evening meal as tea.

SnowiestMountain · 04/10/2017 21:53

Not as irritating as calling lunch, dinner - argh!!

Annaanaconda · 04/10/2017 21:53

I'm Northern. Tea is the evening meal and supper is a round of toast or a few biscuits with a cup of tea before bed!

Crimblewick · 04/10/2017 21:54

I hate the word supper when it's used to refer to anything except a slice of toast (or similar little tidbit) before bed

Exactly. It's only supper if you've got your jim-jams on.

MaroonPencil · 04/10/2017 21:54

My children are much posher than I am, btw. When I say to them "What did you have for dinner" they give me a withering look and say "we haven't had it yet. Do you want to know what we had for lunch?"

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 04/10/2017 21:55

It's tea here in the Midlands.

SherbrookeFosterer · 04/10/2017 21:56

Depends what's on offer.

I have family in Manchester. Their evening meal is styled "tea" and it is not unusual to get fried slices of spam to go with the ubiquitous chips and white bread generously covered with butter.

To be honest I quite like it!

Fried spam just can't be "dinner", it HAS to be "tea"!

SusanTheGentle · 04/10/2017 21:56

Dinner and lunch are meals you have in the middle of the day. Tea and supper are the meal at the end.

These mixed up class signifiers were brought to you by a northerner that went to uni with a lot of posh people.

Blokesworlduk · 04/10/2017 21:56

It's tea up North on the whole.

Mrsmumtobe · 04/10/2017 21:56

Another Breakfast, lunch and dinner household!
Tea is a hot drink not a meal.
Again regional,grandad in midlands uses either 'tea' at dinner time or just refers to it as evening meal

slippermaiden · 04/10/2017 21:57

Depends where you're from, Northern upbringing means tea in the evening, that is all.

squoosh · 04/10/2017 21:57

'I can't bear people calling the evening meal tea.'

I say breakfast, lunch, and dinner, although I we always had tea on Sundays as kids. They're just the terms I use. But I can't imagine not being able to bear that someone else has their tea every evening.

You need to swap one of your meals out for a spliff!

Crimblewick · 04/10/2017 21:57

Yes 'supper' is so up its own arse

Ey, that makes my heart sing Smile

DeadButDelicious · 04/10/2017 21:58

YABU. It's a regional thing. We have breakfast, dinner and tea. Always have. Always will. It's just how we do things round here. Smile

SusanTheGentle · 04/10/2017 21:59

@ujerneyson were they quite middle class or posh or did either have southern parents? Because some northerners do say dinner for the evening meal but it's fairly unusual - it's almost ubiquitously tea up there. Thanks to my own mixed up way of referring to meals I'm always conscious of and interested in how other people refer to it.

MrsJayy · 04/10/2017 21:59

When the Dc were at School they used to get dinner money for their school dinner but I say lunch these days not sure what that is about 😕

Mumof41987 · 04/10/2017 21:59

Everyone in co Durham calls lunch- dinner and evening meal - tea ! It's nowt to do with being posh or rich it's just regional ! I am a farmers wife and live a vwey privelaged life but don't for a second want to start calling tea time , dinner etc I can't stand all the pretentious snobbery !!

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 04/10/2017 22:00

I hate the word "dinner". It makes me feel nauseous and puts me off food altogether.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 04/10/2017 22:00

Breakfast, lunch and dinner except Sundays when it's breakfast, dinner and tea! Tea to me is a light meal like sandwiches and dinner is the biggest, cooked meal.

SardinesAreSwimming · 04/10/2017 22:01

Supper when you mean tea is appallingly snobbish.

squoosh · 04/10/2017 22:01

I hate the word "dinner". It makes me feel nauseous and puts me off food altogether.

Eh, that seems normal...

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