To hate the term 'Tea'

[ditzyglamour]

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?

I'm with you op. I have never noticed it much up north other than occasionally lunch/DINNER thing.

Tea maybe an afternoon snack after school

But I was confused for a long time when people said... So what time do you have your tea

We eat dinner, in the pm. Growing up never heard this.. Only at dc school.

Tea is almost definitely northern working class, of which I am both....well my upbringing and background are.

Do any other northern WC people find that they're becoming immensely proud of their background the older they get? There just such a sense of pride and belonging in being WC.

Breakfast - morning, time variable
Lunch - midday
Tea - mid to late afternoon, includes main evening meal for small children
Dinner - evening meal for adults
Supper - second evening meal for adults who stay up so late they are hungry again.

MrsJayy I was staying with my sister a while back and she said 'Shall we just have a kitchen supper tonight?' I told her to cut it out and stop acting like a knobber .

It depends on what class you are/ think you are

Solidly middle class here- grew up on a farm owned (no mortgage) by my grandfather- evening meal was "tea"

Most farmers use the following system for breaking up the day, and if they don't they know what time the other farmer they are talking to is referring to within about 30 minutes

Breakfast 7.30 am
Coffee Time 10.30
Dinner/Lunch 12.30
Tea time 4pm
Supper time 6.30

Of course this may have become changed informally within the family if farming folk marry non farming folk, but ultimately everyone still knows what everyone else is talking about using the above terms.

I'm northern and we have breakfast, lunch and tea.

Never have dinner.

Could have a hotpot supper or a fish supper.

Breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea, supper, second supper, done!

And I'm southern, people always say it's northern but it's a real mix here

You did your sister a favour she could have said that outside Hemanorshera made a right arse of herself

I grew up in the 50s/60s in the Home Counties (hahaha) (Middlesex) but with working class parents on a council estate & it was tea there too.

so historically it's not a regional thing, it's just a class thing.

& basically, who cares

Breakfast
Dinner
Tea

Simple

We are also fairly posh farm folks

I suppose my mother and her family were middle class northerners but tea for them too.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 are you ever in any mood other than utterly waspish?

I don't think I've displayed any anger or irritation; I've simply pointed out that your use of language is unacceptable.

As a American, this used to confuse me, I actually thought it literally mean tea time 🍵 and thought you guys don’t really have big dinner time

Really?

It's colloquial.

Does it matter? No.

Is it a Northern Phrase? Yes. Move on

My grandmother always offered us a "dinner tea" or a "tea tea"... dinner tea being a cooked meal and a tea tea being sandwiches and snack foods. To me, 'tea' at any time of the day refers to light snack foods/sandwiches (morning tea, afternoon tea, evening tea all come in the same category).

I'm from the south east so 'tea' is afternoon tea only, ie slightly poncey with sandwiches and cakes and usually overpriced. And I say that as someone who has just treated her mil to one for a slightly extortionate £39.50 pp 🙄

Lunch is at er, lunchtime and dinner in the evening.

It's called tea because people drank tea with the meal. Its was very much a class indicator not regional.

You think my language is unacceptable. I don't.

I find your unpleasant behaviour on many threads to be pretty unacceptable. But presumably you don't.

So there we have it.

in our house we have lunch and tea, as dinner is just the main meal of the day, so doesn't say when the meal is

I'm a southerner and we've always said breakfast, dinner, tea.

Actually I think it is also working class. I was a poorer child at a posh school. We always had us tea at 5pm when we got in from school. I was always starving when I went to rich friends houses and they didnt eat their dinner until 7pm. It was such an ordeal having to make polite conversation with their terrifyingly well mannered families and watch my table manners.

Haven’t read the whole thread but it’s more of a class thing than regional. I’m from the south and it was always breakfast, dinner and tea. Dinner has changed to lunch but tea is still tea!