Tea = Dinner, Dinner = Lunch but Lunch does not = Tea and the ensuing confusion (by sarah)
We have made a social fopar but it appears to be a language problem more than anything else. I dont know if its a regional thing or a generation thing but to us Tea is the evening meal and dinner is something that either happens in a resturant or at lunch times ie at school you have dinner time, at christmas you have christmas dinner at lunch time etc...
However, there is the concept of Afternoon Tea which I had only ever seen in films before moving here. Sure there is tea the drink but you tend to ask do you want a tea, or a cuppa or a cup of tea. That a is very important and if not used say in just shouting TEA to someone - hand jesters must be used for clarity.
Now after accidently missing an evening meal and then being asked if we wanted to have a re-run of sorts this Sunday we said yes. Al was told we where all invited for tea, my perants and all. Al assumed this to mean the evening meal ie to replace the one we missed. So therefore it would be at the time the previoous one was seduled - 7.
We rearranged the structure of the day in order to be able to make this meal including making sure JEany bow had had enough sleep so as not to be grumpy chumps. Al made sure his business meeting was finished well in time though he was still in the middle of the debrief with our client when the language mistake cuased an explosion.
Poor Barbara had been waiting for us from five to come over for Afternoon Tea whilst we were waiting for 7 to have Tea. But it turns out that Barbara considers Dinner to be the meal Tea and was obviously really annoyed, especially as she hadnt come across the concept of Tea being the word used for the evening meal.
It was a right ol' mess!
Ok so Afternoon Tea is probably what we would call coffee break or snack time depending and is the equivalent of that extra meal the French have. Also the deviation could well have occured as children have their last meal of the day when they come home from school which would be about Afternoon Tea time, and so would be called tea but then as they get older the evening meal gets later but they are less lickly to start calling it something else.
Ok so me and Al would say that meals are called: Breakfast Brunch (obviously you have this when you get up too late for brekki and too early for lunch) Lunch/dinner Coffee break/snack time (Doesnt really count as a meal and only really applys in an office type environ) Lunner (this is mine and Als special personalised meal for when we realise we've forgotten to eat lunch and its a bit too close to dinner time but not close enough for it to be dinner) Tea (occassionally called dinner if going to a resturant) Super (very occassionally used when you realise its midnight and you've forgotten to eat dinner so you have ceral or cheese and busciuts in bed to tide you over to the morning - Al may also have minni trifle or some such for this particular psuedo meal)
We would typically only have two or three of these meals a day.
From what we've gathered though this is what we are supposed to do: Breakfast Lunch Afternoon Tea Dinner/super
Shrug - must be a regional thing though our friend who grew up here said that she calls the evening meal Tea and the midday one dinner - oh well. Clarify definitions in future! That way you will not have to suddenly produce a meal for five people with no warning cos you thought you where going else where for that evening meal :/
The Family | sarah | 
Tue 5th Dec 2006 11:25 am
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By becca, Tue 5th Dec 2006 @ 9:15 pm
friends from up north Hull, Derby and Nottingham say that call lunch dinner and what i call dinner they call tea. So where i'm used to having three meals a day - breakfast lunch dinner they have breakfast, dinner, tea and supper (usually cereal, toast or crumpets etc before going to bed - i find it strange to contemplate eating traditional breakfast foods before going to bed). I was shocked that people have 4 main meals in a day rather than three - it reminded me of hobbits (lol)
But in my family we always used to have a cup of tea,biccies and cake etc in the afternoon - especially at weekends...as this is the time that family and friends used to come visiting etc.
I think the meal naming is definately a regional thing!
By Charlee, Wed 6th Dec 2006 @ 1:14 pm
Breakfast | Brunch/Elevenses | Lunch | Tea/Snack | Dinner/Supper | Midnight Snack
Those are the meals I consider, in order. I never understood it when my friends had "Tea" at dinner time, and "Dinner" at lunch time. Utter confusion. Wifey's from Yorkshire, and I first got introduced to these odd things with her family. Still think it's odd though.
Desayuno -> Almuerzo -> Cena
Much simpler. Tapas any other time 😉