Last Sunday, we invited a couple from church over for dinner. Ruth was born and raised in England, and her husband Marty is from Australia. While they were here, I drilled Ruth about some British terminology regarding meals.
I needed some clarification because last Spring, Timothy was invited to a friend's house to play. While I was on the phone with this friend's mother about the playdate, she mentioned something to me about tea. From this, I assumed that she was inviting me for a cup of tea while Tim and his buddy were playing. So, I responded apologetically about how I would have Maddie with me, and was that okay. I could tell that something was lost in the translation there, and backed off the subject. I later found out that she was asking if Tim could stay for dinner.
So, I retold this story to my new friend Ruth. She explained to me that a lot of British people call their evening meal "tea." This is because, a few generations ago, the meal in the middle of the day was the people's main meal. The farmers would come in from their fields, and the workers and schoolchildren would come home to have their "dinner", which was a larger, hot meal. Then in the evenings, people would have a lighter meal called a "tea". Now in England, most people do have their larger, hot meal in the evening, but for some reason, they still call it tea. Likewise, some people still call the middle of the day meal dinner, but most call it lunch.
So, the moral of the story is: if a British person invites you for tea, don't assume you'll be drinking any.
I Am.
8 months ago
3 comments:
This is similar to farming communities too. My family heritage is southern/farming so "lunch" was "dinner" and used to consist of a large meal, while "Supper" was the evening meal and lighter.
You've got lots of stuff to keep straight!
My in-laws are from PA and they refer to lunch as 'dinner' and dinner as 'supper'...so it does get confusing! Sometimes I say, 'Ben, translation please' and my husband translates what they're saying for me.
I grew up in a PA farming community/heritage, but never lived on a farm. Combine that with the fact that in my family we called the noon meal "lunch" and/or "dinner" AND the evening meal "supper" and/or "dinner". How WE didn't get confused is beyond me! BUT, the term "dinner" always was synonymous with the largest meal of the day--that varied somewhat on weekends and holidays.
When I met my husband and he used "dinner" exclusively for the evening meal, we had to constantly clarify things! We still have to sometimes as there are numerous things that get lost in translation. Oh the joys of being a 2 language household! :oP
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