tea meaning dinner

[uncountable, countable] the last meal of the day, either a main meal, usually smaller and less formal than dinner, or a snack eaten before you go to bed I'll do my homework after supper. The higher classes use ‘tea’ to mean ‘afternoon tea’ (a working-class word), which consists of tea, cake, scones(pronounced with a short ‘o’), and dainty sandwiches. The English afternoon tea blend is medium body and lighter than English breakfast tea.[7]. When used in this context, it is eaten early evening and will often the main meal of the day on returning home from work. In addition to the hard core tea addicts, many people, in general, have the habit of drinking tea after meals. A clue to the historical role of supper is given in its etymology. It combined snacks and a … For a tea lover, nothing in the world can be more gratifying than a cup of tea. The custom of taking afternoon tea with bread or pastry was also common in some continental European areas, though such customs are not widely known in English-speaking countries. Now the meaning of ‘dinner’ has been a matter of discussion in my household for years. [Towards five o'clock in the evening, the mistress of the house, in the midst of the sitting-room, makes tea herself, very strong and barely sweetened with a few drops of rich cream; generous slices of buttered bread accompany it. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Vocabulary and Social Class. Even though tea goes into the afternoon, dinner is served between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. threeseven/Shutterstock For many generations, UK residents have quibbled over whether their major evening meal should be referred to as "tea" or "dinner". [13] This differentiation in usage is one of the classic social markers of English (see U and non-U English). To dream about having a dinner is rather rare. Nowadays, a formal afternoon tea is more of a special occasion, taken as a treat in a hotel. To dine with a number of people (more than two) denotes petty bickering and quarreling. A list of significant tea houses in Britain gives more examples. Kate Fox, in her book Watching the English, says the term you use for your evening meal is directly related to your class. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset. Other than the name, the meal is not different from those eaten as dinner or supper. However, the study didn’t just examine which word was most favoured across the country, it also looked into how answers varied according to geographical region. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. This is a more recent innovation. Tea: If you call it tea, and eat it around 6:30pm, you are very likely to be working class. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. According to the report, competition was very tight in the Midlands, with people living in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire only slightly more likely to describe the meal as “tea”. Another word for tea. When I was a child ‘dinner’ was the light meal in the middle of the day, whereas ‘tea’ was the main meal at around 6 o’clock. However, in most of the South of England, the midday meal is almost universally called "lunch", with "dinner" being the evening meal, regardless of social class. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. Afternoon teas are often held outside the private home in commercial tea rooms, function venues, hotels, or similar.[19]. Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes afternoon teas of various kinds, and provides menus for the "old-fashioned tea", the "at-home tea", the "family tea", and the high tea. As in, "have you had tea yet? The great evening meal debate continues... Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Such is the Swiss Tea in all its simplicity. As a verb tea is to drink tea. Her statement on TV show Britain’s Best Home Cook sparked a huge debate on Twitter, with one person stating: “The Queen of baking has spoken.". the best kind of gossip, typically shared between friends. / ˌhaɪ ˈtiː / us / ˌhaɪ ˈtiː / a light meal eaten in the late afternoon or early evening that usually includes cooked food, cakes, and tea to drink SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases In contrast, Fiona takes a more pragmatic approach: ‘dinner’ is the main meal whether taken midday or in the evening. Learn more. A tea break is the term used for a work break in either the morning or afternoon for a simple cup of tea or other beverage. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. See more. The philosopher Thomas Carlyle and his wife invited guests for 7 pm to their teas in the 1850s, although afternoon tea before dinner was also becoming established by this time.[3]. It had become ubiquitous, even in the isolated village in the fictionalised memoir Lark Rise to Candleford, where a cottager lays out what she calls a "visitor's tea" for their landlady: "the table was laid… there were the best tea things with a fat pink rose on the side of each cup; hearts of lettuce, thin bread and butter, and the crisp little cakes that had been baked in readiness that morning. To dine alone or with your family means you will be forgiving someone or receiving forgiveness from someone. Observance of the custom originated amongst the wealthy social classes in England in the 1840s,[5] as the time of dinner moved later. This means their small evening meal. This article is instead concerned with the various types of secondary, lighter, meals called "tea". It may equally involve coffee, and almost inevitably, biscuits. And when I come out to the dining room, I don't see a cup of tea, I see dinner. For all classes and regions, supper usually means a late-night snack or meal, but some people use the term for the early evening meal if they have already had their dinner at midday. The sandwiches are usually crustless, cut into small segments, either as triangles or fingers, and pressed thin. However, few prove as divisive as the question of how best to describe the last meal of the day. 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