Navigating meal terminology across the UK
Hannah Kaitlin-Boyer from Mirfield, West Yorkshire, writes: "I have bounced from south London to south Manchester, back to the West Midlands, across to the East Midlands and then various parts of Pennine Yorkshire, navigating the meaning and timing of dinner, lunch and tea. I gave up on learning and translating the local variations and settled on meals as being breakfast, lunch and supper. Everybody knows which I mean and approximately when they are to be eaten. Oh, and tea is drunk, not eaten."
Confusion over tea and dinner
Alyson Elliman from Carshalton Beeches, London, shares: "In Scotland, my five-year-old son was asked by the health visitor what he had for tea. I worried she might call in social services when he replied: 'Not much, just some biscuits.' Being English, 'tea' meant what he got on return from school, having had 'lunch' midday, and 'dinner' for the evening meal. Adult friends then had 'supper' just before bedtime."
Family adaptations
Sally Goldsmith from Sheffield adds: "In our house, though we used to call it dinner, we have lunch now at dinner time. But our grandchildren still have school dinners presided over by dinner ladies. As for our dinner now, we still call it tea. My Dutch daughter-in-law finds it all very confusing."
