To think that you’re evening meal is called ‘tea’ not ‘dinner’?!

[Biscoffaddict]

I see so many posters on here referring to their evening mea, as ‘dinner’, but in real life I’ve never met anyone who does this and it’s always ‘tea’. It always has been tea. My parents call it tea, my grandparents called it tea, my friends call it tea, my work colleagues call it tea etc. ‘Dinner’ is the meal you have in the middle of the day and that’s why school dinner ladies, are called dinner ladies!

I don’t know but I find it quite irrationally annoying! Surely I’m not alone?!

Chippy tea for me too, or just chippy. Only if it's a proper chippy. Pizza shops don't count.

I would just call it fish and chips regardless of the time of day.

I eat my Sunday roast dinner at dinnertime not at lunchtime!

@PattyPan

" I would just call it fish and chips regardless of the time of day."

What of it's going to be a mixed order. Whereas a lot of people would say "we're having a chippy tea", what would you refer to it as, for quickness?

It’s a regional / class thing. So basically your post is telling one region and social class that they’re doing it wrong and that your way is the only way. 🙄

Nobody calls it Chippy here in Ireland (that I know of anyway) it's always chipper. Chippy tea seems like an English phrase

Dinner means your main, hot meal of the day.

But what if someone doesn’t have a main hot meal of the day?

What if they have some sandwiches at midday and then a cold salad with something else light in the evening?

Have they had two lunches???

Or what if someone had a delicious hot and huge fry-up when they woke up and so the rest of their meals during the day are light and small, does that mean their fry-up when they woke up was actually their dinner because that was their hot and main meal of the day?

It’s a can of worms....

If it comes from the fish and chip shop it’s fish and chips regardless of what it actually comprises !

A roast on a Sunday is Sunday lunch , and all the pubs etc have Sunday Lunch menus I have never seen one that says Sunday dinner menu and I have to say that includes when I lived in the NE . We have Christmas Lunch as well although now the children are grown up I think it may migrate to dinner .

I’m Northern and I say breakfast, lunch and tea but if I’m speaking to someone from the south I will sometimes say dinner so there’s no misunderstanding.

[quote Ponoka7]@PattyPan

" I would just call it fish and chips regardless of the time of day."

What of it's going to be a mixed order. Whereas a lot of people would say "we're having a chippy tea", what would you refer to it as, for quickness?[/quote]
I would say we’re going to the chippy or we’re getting food from the chippy. I’ve never heard of chippy tea outside of MN even though my dad and DP are from the north west. To be fair, we never go to the chippy so it wouldn’t really come up.

@ThornAmongstRoses

Yep it's a can of worms with exceptions as most words in the English language are, but that's still the form definition of the word!

Chippy tea is correct. Or even chipper tea.

Also in S. Yorks where l live the chip shop is often called the ‘chip oil’ ( chip hole)

Growing in Yorkshire up I'd say having fish and chips for tea from the fish shop but DH is from Manchester and it's a chippy and chippy tea there.

It's also Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner but served early in the day - around 1ish

I'd never heard of chippy tea before MN either, though I have heard it since we moved to the NW.

What of it's going to be a mixed order. Whereas a lot of people would say "we're having a chippy tea", what would you refer to it as, for quickness?

I'd always say that we were getting fish and chips, or going to the fish and chip shop. Tbh saying 'We're having a chippy tea' isn't massively quicker. It's not as if any of the variations is particularly long-winded. As for the mixed order thing - ds usually has a battered sausage and the rest of us have fish. I'd still say 'We're having fish and chips'.

We just have "fish and chips", but when you get there you ask for a "fish supper"!

@lazylinguist

I'd never heard of chippy tea before MN either, though I have heard it since we moved to the NW.

What of it's going to be a mixed order. Whereas a lot of people would say "we're having a chippy tea", what would you refer to it as, for quickness?

I'd always say that we were getting fish and chips, or going to the fish and chip shop. Tbh saying 'We're having a chippy tea' isn't massively quicker. It's not as if any of the variations is particularly long-winded. As for the mixed order thing - ds usually has a battered sausage and the rest of us have fish. I'd still say 'We're having fish and chips'.

Yeah, it's not like saying something other than chippy tea is long and complicated....in fact if I were to answer the question it would have the same amount of words :p

What are we having for dinner?

We're having a chippy tea

V's

We're going to the chipper

*What if they have some sandwiches at midday and then a cold salad with something else light in the evening?

Have they had two lunches???*

No they’ve had Lunch and Tea. Get with it.

Or what if someone had a delicious hot and huge fry-up when they woke up and so the rest of their meals during the day are light and small, does that mean their fry-up when they woke up was actually their dinner because that was their hot and main meal of the day?

Breakfast is exempt. Anything goes for breakfast. So Breakfast, lunch and Tea.

@TheJerkStore

Growing in Yorkshire up I'd say having fish and chips for tea from the fish shop but DH is from Manchester and it's a chippy and chippy tea there.

It's also Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner but served early in the day - around 1ish

I'm from north Yorks and would say the chippy, but my mum from west Yorks would defo say the fish shop!

Yep I'm a West Yorkshire lass - I'd ask for chips with bits!
I live in Manchester now and the fish shops just aren't the same and they don't do bits 😭

Im in the north. Always called evening meal tea and always around 5pm
Midday meal is either dinner if a substantial meal or lunch if its a sandwich

It's supper

Tea is cucumber sandwiches, scones and lots of cake and champagne at a posh hotel.

If bits are the same as scraps ,they do them in Bolton ,@TheJerkStore!

@x2boys

I suppose I shouldn't ask what people call a meal from the chip shop on a Friday evening ,I guess that's a whole new thread ,here it's a chippy tea , and chips and gravy is a good thing even better on a buttie 🤣🤣

I would just say "fish and chips" or "something from the chip shop".

I have never ever used the word "chippy". Oh and gravy on chips is disgusting. The only thing chips should have on them is a bit of vinegar

The only thing chips should have on them is a bit of vinegar

Curry sauce from the chipper

“But what if someone doesn’t have a main hot meal of the day?

What if they have some sandwiches at midday and then a cold salad with something else light in the evening?

Have they had two lunches???”

I’d still call that lunch and dinner. Lunch is never ever in the evening, by definition. But I’m not appalled by the idea of calling a light evening meal your “tea” as it was perfectly usual to hear it said back in the 80s SE when I was growing up. Specially if it was beans on toast after having been “hot dinners” at school instead of packed lunch.

But the thought of calling a sandwich at 12 your “dinner” is what’s tickled my pickle. Genuinely never heard it used.

@x2boys

If bits are the same as scraps ,they do them in Bolton ,*@TheJerkStore*!

They are!! Some around us will do them but not many.

My old fish shop in Yorkshire used beef dripping too - they're so much nicer!!