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Why do English people call 'Dinner', 'Tea?
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I've always called it dinner and I grew up in England, but I still dont understand why people call it Tea. I've asked friends who call it that, and they dont know either! haha
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Only if we have it at "Tea Time" ... ie late afternoon, when traditionally, one would be having "High Tea" - literally, tea and snacks.
If we have it in the evening, it's called "Dinner" ... beacuse that's when people "dine".
If we eat later, it's called "Supper" ... because that's the time when the lords would have retired to "sup" their ale, or whatever.
The only exception to this is on Coronation Street, where they have "Dinner" at Lunch Time ...
... because it's set in a strange town somewhere up near Scotland.
If we have it in the evening, it's called "Dinner" ... beacuse that's when people "dine".
If we eat later, it's called "Supper" ... because that's the time when the lords would have retired to "sup" their ale, or whatever.
The only exception to this is on Coronation Street, where they have "Dinner" at Lunch Time ...
... because it's set in a strange town somewhere up near Scotland.
BOO is correct. Here in the North of England it has always been breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. Recently the 'experts' have said that a large meal at 'dinner-time' between noon and 1pm is better for people.
Fish and chip shops were always busy at 'dinner-time' and again at 'supper-time'.
Tea-time was a light meal around 5pm.
'Lunch' was for posh fowk!
Fish and chip shops were always busy at 'dinner-time' and again at 'supper-time'.
Tea-time was a light meal around 5pm.
'Lunch' was for posh fowk!
One cannot hope to explain the difference between lunch and dinner better than simply by quoting what The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) - the �bible' of word-meanings - says about 'dinner'...
"The chief meal of the day, eaten originally and still by the majority of people about the middle of the day, but now, by the professional and fashionable classes, usually in the evening."
They're called school 'dinners' for the very simple reason that the vast majority of pupils who attended state schools when such meals were first provided were (still are?) the children of working-class parents. And the working folk of Britain do, by and large, still speak of the midday meal as 'dinner'. Obviously, therefore, that usage would be carried over from home to school.
I'm fairly certain that the pupils at Eton, Harrow, Roedean etc do not call their midday meal 'dinner'! Why? Because they're not working-class!
By the same token, there are no doubt many people of working class background who use �dinner' to mean their evening meal. All that this means is that they are not part of the majority referred to by the OED above.
Re �tea', it says, "Now usually a light meal in the late afternoon but, locally in the UK, a cooked evening meal."
So, it is simply not a case of anyone's meal-list being right or wrong. It is clear that this whole thing is almost entirely a matter of perceived class and - to some extent - geography.
"The chief meal of the day, eaten originally and still by the majority of people about the middle of the day, but now, by the professional and fashionable classes, usually in the evening."
They're called school 'dinners' for the very simple reason that the vast majority of pupils who attended state schools when such meals were first provided were (still are?) the children of working-class parents. And the working folk of Britain do, by and large, still speak of the midday meal as 'dinner'. Obviously, therefore, that usage would be carried over from home to school.
I'm fairly certain that the pupils at Eton, Harrow, Roedean etc do not call their midday meal 'dinner'! Why? Because they're not working-class!
By the same token, there are no doubt many people of working class background who use �dinner' to mean their evening meal. All that this means is that they are not part of the majority referred to by the OED above.
Re �tea', it says, "Now usually a light meal in the late afternoon but, locally in the UK, a cooked evening meal."
So, it is simply not a case of anyone's meal-list being right or wrong. It is clear that this whole thing is almost entirely a matter of perceived class and - to some extent - geography.
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