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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

999 replies

Biscoffaddict · 04/02/2021 16:33

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?!

OP posts:

Tuscadero · 05/02/2021 16:26

TheJerkStore · 05/02/2021 16:27

Its not my usual pattern of speech.
Why would it be exhausting for me to speak as I normally do?

Apologies, I read your posts as you actively avoiding regional dialect and slang.

Regional dialect would be me suddenly calling my children bairns or a bread roll a cob.
And no it wont be happening

No, that would be you speaking in another regional dialect - one that's different from yours!
Nobody is saying you must adopt words from another geographical area!
There's a difference between saying 'we don't use those words where I live' and 'using those words sounds childish'.

Don't call your child a bairn but don't judge those that do!

Templetree · 05/02/2021 16:31

@TheJerkStore

Tea is a term used here for children -nursery or after school tea.
Where you live, therefore regional

Adults saying tea for their evening meal therefore sounds childish.

In your opinion based on how the term is used by you- not one that is universally held. Especially as my 49 year old DH has just asked what I fancy for tea.

All the rest I have heard all around the country.
Chippy or kids is hardly regional dialect

Chippy is regional - just used across a number of regions. Kids is slang - which apparently is also childish??! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Wean, Bairn,Dreich are all lovely regional words. why are they not childish words?

As someone who has been judged in professional circles for having a regional accent it does get my back up when I see people making negative comments about regional language.... it's a wonderful thing and should be Celebrated!

Im not making judgements about regional accents ,though there are a couple that grate. I just dislike slang so we will have to disagree.

goteam · 05/02/2021 16:32

There are people in my social circle and extended family who call it tea, dinner or supper because I don't live in a bubble with only people just like me in it. I also have friends who speak English as a second language and it's ok and not altogether surprising that they also have different words for it.

TheJerkStore · 05/02/2021 16:34

It came across as judgmental 🤷🏼‍♀️

But yes, agree to disagree

Templetree · 05/02/2021 16:39

@TheJerkStore

It came across as judgmental 🤷🏼‍♀️

But yes, agree to disagree

We werent even discussing regional accents

I love hearing regional accents although Liverpudlian and Welsh grates Im afraid.

lazylinguist · 05/02/2021 16:40

I find it very hard to believe that someone doesn't use some regional dialect in their speech

I genuinely can't think of any bits of regional dialect that are part of my normal speech. That's not because I choose not to use them or have anything against regional accents or dialects. I love them. But I was brought up in a very standard-English-speaking area.

Alrassan · 05/02/2021 16:41

Which Welsh accent would that be?

snowliving · 05/02/2021 16:43

My London DH was very surprised when he realized I wasn't just making words like driech up and that other people used them as well.
Some people have sheltered lives.
He had travelled around Europe as a dc but not the UK.

Tuscadero · 05/02/2021 16:44

I love a soft Welsh accent. Very melodic.

TheJerkStore · 05/02/2021 16:45

We werent even discussing regional accents
I know. But regional dialect and accents are very much linked.

As I mentioned it is a particularly sensitive subject as I have been judged professionally due to how I speak.

TheJerkStore · 05/02/2021 16:49

@lazylinguist

I find it very hard to believe that someone doesn't use some regional dialect in their speech

But according to reading I did on this ( albeit a while ago) I was under the impression that everyone speaks a dialect but people often think they don't because it doesn't stand out or is the norm amongst their peers. The standard English you speak is a dialect in itself...

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 16:49

Welsh accent grates? Wales is a country,which bit of Wales are you referring to?

Templetree · 05/02/2021 16:50

@Alrassan

Which Welsh accent would that be?

The really sing songy ones 😬

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 16:51

very standard-English-speaking area that usually refers to Home Counties which in itself is an accent.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 16:52

Singy Songy ahh you must mean pontypandy?

Tuscadero · 05/02/2021 16:52

I love when some English people say 'I don't have an accent'

Blackberrybunnet · 05/02/2021 16:54

@Blabla81

Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Tea is what I drink.

what Blabla said. or afternoon tea with sandwiches. or high tea (in Scotland) one course, with bread and butter, sometimes followed by a slice of cake.

Templetree · 05/02/2021 16:55

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

Singy Songy ahh you must mean pontypandy?

Very funny !

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 16:56

Yes English people, saying I do not have an accent is usually they perceive themselves as a posho, bit above the oiks and most certainly above anyone forrin.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 16:58

Never heard anyone in Scotland say high tea

lazylinguist · 05/02/2021 17:10

very standard-English-speaking area that usually refers to Home Counties which in itself is an accent.

Yup, HomeCounties. I didn't say anything about accents. Everybody in the whole world has an accent. It's very ignorant to think you don't. I was responding to a comment about dialect words and phrases, not accent.

While it is certainly true that the version of English often spoken in the Home Counties is simply just another dialect that was the one that came to be regarded as standard English, I don't think that's what the poster was really getting at when she expressed surprise that there might be many people who didn't use regional dialect words. Maybe I misinterpreted her remark though.

lazylinguist · 05/02/2021 17:12

Incidentally, I speak fairly RP English but live in the NW of England. I'm very well aware that I have an accent.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 05/02/2021 17:18

Don’t erroneously paraphrase me to support your shaky diatribe @lazylinguist

Of course I have an accent, an accent which market research suggests has positive connotations

I’m also adept at code switching. Having worked in England ,Scotland and Ireland . Coming from a working class background I encountered prejudice because of my accent in my chosen profession and had to adapt and modify. However, take me back to where I’m from and I can immediately switch to that accent and colloquialism

PattyPan · 05/02/2021 17:18

I don’t think I use any regional dialect either. I have an accent obviously but I just use standard words. The only thing I say which isn’t dictionary standard is loo but that’s not regional.
There are different accents within the Home Counties anyway e.g. Estuary English is different to RP.

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