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

[FelicityMingington]

The first thread is now full, and there are still a lot of nuances here that we haven't even touched on.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4156280-To-think-that-you-re-evening-meal-is-called-tea-not-dinner

It's dinner for me. My mum's started to call it tea when it's for my dd but she never did that when I was young. I have no idea why she has started doing it.

You’re still wrong, it’s your.

I broke the habit of calling it "tea" in my early twenties. I now eat dinner. On dinner plates. And I drink tea from a cup. Afternoon tea isn't enough of a counter-argument; it's a light bite around 4pm, while dinner is usually a bit later in the day. Cream tea is right out as a line of argument - it can be taken at any time of day.

Its definitely breakfast, dinner and tea 😁

I remember my cousin was in hospital (Birmingham- in case that is relevant), he was about 5 at the time, nurse came round and asked would you like tea, to which he replied, no thanks I’ve just had juice....she then (looking amused) said she meant what would he like to eat (for tea!)
I remember thinking it’s called tea and I never knew that (we always called evening meal supper).
In all fairness I was about 10 at the time (obviously quite sheltered)

Still ‘your’ not ‘you are.

Still ‘tea’ up North and ‘dinner’ further South due to regional differences in language. Still not a thing as universally acknowledged already.

In case anyone is not aware, in Tudor times people (and even the royals, posh and wealthy folk) ate dinner during the day as it was their main meal. Not only that but they ate it before mid day too. They weren't big on breakfasts in the early morning back then so stuffed their tunics with dinner of several courses of gut rotting meat as early as 10.30am if they could afford it. The wealthy ate freshly cooked meat and the poor ate preserved stuff.
The word "lunch" did not exist at that time.
Here endeth the lesson.

Supper can just fuck off. Anyone who has 'supper', is a twat. IMHO

CheckMate that reminded me: my son was born in North-West and attended nursery as a young baby. They once left a message for me that if I wanted him to have tea at nursery I needed to provide it. I remember feeling bemused: he was a baby, surely he was not allowed to have tea yet? And only later did I realise that they meant an evening meal 😂

More to the point: breakfast, lunch and dinner here (SE). However, helpers in the school canteen are invariably called dinner ladies even though they serve lunch.

Breakfast up to 10
Elevens 11
Brunch 11-12
Lunch 12-2
Afternoon tea 2-4
Tea - 4-6
Dinner 7-9
Supper 9-11
Midnight snack 12

You don't get asked out for tea v dinner round my way though, you would just be asked out for a meal. In the evening.

@MandalaYogaTapestry

More to the point: breakfast, lunch and dinner here (SE). However, helpers in the school canteen are invariably called dinner ladies even though they serve lunch.

Actually you've just reminded me of how confused I was when my English cousins came to visit. They talked about their school and the dinner ladies - kid me was baffled! I presumed English schools were at night and felt very sorry for them.

Discworld - Unseen University Mealtimes
As with the system of bells aboard ship, or the solemn order of prayer services in a monastery, the day at Unseen University appears to be regulated by its mealtimes, which rather like the Bells aboard a ship, seem to occur at two-hourly intervals throughout the day and night.

Mealtimes named in the books so far are:-

Midnight Snack
Somnambulistic Nibbles
Early Breakfast
Second Breakfast
Third Breakfast (discovered by Archchancellor Flacker)
Elevenses
Early Lunch (conjectural)
Second Lunch
Mid-Afternoon Snack
Afternoon Tea - well, Sherry, really
Early Tea
Late Tea (conjectural)
Dinner
Second Dinner
Several of the above are labelled "conjectural" and have been inserted at intelligently guessed intervals with suitable names, to preserve the integrity of a 24 hour cycle in which there are twelve opportunities to eat a full meal. Some of the above may be duplicated entries - the "Afternoon Tea (well, Sherry, really" of Sourcery may well have mutated over the years into the "Mid-Afternoon Snack" of The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch. No evidence has yet been found for the conjectural "Late tea", so if this and one of the Mid-afternoon snacks can be eliminated, we are back to twelve meals again, and not fourteen.

wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Unseen_University_Mealtimes

Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

@FrankButchersDickieBow

Supper can just fuck off. Anyone who has 'supper', is a twat. IMHO

But I like crumpets and hot chocolate before bed!!

Teatime is a regular time-check here in the nw, so it's tea here. But in my Lahndahn youth, wc & all, it was & is dinner.
I've travelled plenty, it's a regional thing, not a class signifier. There are many of those & they are subtle, in order to exclude Others. Most are invented by inverted snobs of the multi- middle class bandwidth 😂

My cats have Supper. Call them twats and they'll slap you!

Midlands. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner

I think it depends whereabouts you live in the UK.

SE here. I grew up eating tea and I now eat dinner. Same meal. Who cares.

@HopeForTheBestExpectTheWorst

Can someone who calls it "tea" please just explain would you suggest going out for "tea" with friends, in the evening? Or on a date?

I think tea as a meal refers to an after-school/early-evening thing served to young children before the adults have their dinner later on.

Yes

If it was a date I might say meal, or dinner but that would denote it's specialness

who calls it "tea" please just explain would you suggest going out for "tea" with friends, in the evening? Or on a date?

Yes.

The 'you are' in the title made me laugh, sorry 😁
I'm more north but call the evening meal dinner. I remember moving here when I was younger and getting invited to someone's house for 'dinner'. I was so confused that they meant lunch and never did adapt to calling it that myself 😋