Time To Shut Down The BBC

[mids]

When I was wee it was always breakfast, dinner, then tea. Also Merry Christmas and then Happy New Year.

[voice]

Oh and most everyone I still have contact with, and the wife's family ect who still live in the North still call lunch dinner and dinner tea. Have ever been north of Luton, cos it doesn't sound much like you have

[Repat Van]

Aug 26, 2024 18:42:34 GMT voice said:

Oh and most everyone I still have contact with, and the wife's family ect who still live in the North still call lunch dinner and dinner tea. Have ever been north of Luton, cos it doesn't sound much like you have

This. And come to think of it many of the (white) Brummies I ever hear speaking about it refer to is as “tea”. Same when I was living in Manchester.

I hear it more often than not outside of the South.

[Repat Van]

Aug 26, 2024 18:25:56 GMT flatandy said:

It's not actually a working class northern thing. It was, probably 50 years ago. Now anyone who does it does so as an affectation of working-class-northernery. Voice, for instance, is a posh upwardly mobile Canadian but still likes to pretend he's a horny handed son of Yorkshire so talks about his evening meal as "tea"

It’s definitely not a thing from 50 years ago though. If it were you wouldn’t still hear it.

I think this is probably a North / South divide thing. Or a posh / not posh thing. You and your friends are from fairly wealthy backgrounds I think we established when you did not know anybody severely impacted by the COL crisis so maybe that’s the reason you never hear it?

[perrykneeham]

This is entirely encouraging. Van has found a topic she can usefully contribute to.

[Repat Van]

So I did a Google search on the topic and it is, as I thought, clearly a North/South divide.

Fandy, being a typical Southerner thinks the way things happens down South Is the way they happen everywhere.

A poll from 2018 (which is less than 50 years ago)…

(Also I was wrong in that class appears to not impact what people call it too much. It’s the part of England they are from which has the biggest influence.)


yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/20826-dinner-time-or-tea-time-it-depends-where-you-live

“ A new map by YouGov reveals the boundaries between “dinner England” and “tea England”

New YouGov analysis among more than 42,000 English people reveals the real North/South divide: what people call their main evening meal.

Across England as a whole, the majority (57%) call it “dinner”, while just over a third (36%) opt for “tea”. The remainder either call it something else (including 5% who say “supper”) or answered “don’t know”.

However, despite dinner’s overall victory, the data shows there are clear geographical differences. Breaking down the results by county reveals a stark North/South divide, with “dinner” the winner in the South and “tea” being top in the North.

Dinner” is most entrenched in the Home Counties, with the residents of East Sussex, Essex and Kent being the most likely to favour it. By contrast, those in Greater Manchester, Tyne and Wear and Merseyside are most likely to say “tea”.

The contest is tightest in the Midlands, with people in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire and Shropshire being marginally more likely (0-10 percentage points) to favour tea, while dinner is the marginally more popular term in Worcestershire (as well as Bristol further to the south).

Whether you say “dinner” or “tea” is no longer really a class distinction

While some have suggested that the dinner/tea debate is driven by class, YouGov data reveals this isn’t the case.

While middle class Northerners are nine percentage points more likely to say “dinner” rather than “tea” when compared with their working class counterparts (37% vs 28%), “tea” is still chosen by the majority of people in both classes (58% among middle class and 67% among working class Northerners).“

Among Southerners there is barely a class difference at all. Only three to four percentage points separate the two groups, with 74% of middle class and 70% of working class Southerners opting for “dinner”.


So there we have it. It’s all resolved.

We have learned that:

1) “Tea” used to describe dinner is very common in the North

2) Fandy is a typical Southerner in multiple ways.

[Repat Van]

Aug 27, 2024 7:34:26 GMT perrykneeham said:

This is entirely encouraging. Van has found a topic she can usefully contribute to.

Nurse!

[perrykneeham]

Did anyone catch one of Keir's kittens o the Today programme this morning?

She came across as a stuttering imbecile, and was duly shredded by the interviewer, who didn't so much as break sweat.

[moggyonspeed]

Deeply ambivalent about the whole dinner / tea thing, although anyone who uses the word "supper" needs either a) re-educating; or b) punching; or c) "pruning".

[perrykneeham]

Very common on the sunny side of the Tamar. Usually shortened to sups in my family. Also, "crib" is used in lieu of morning tea break and often, lunch, especially at work.

[mids]

Supper's a snack you have somewhere around 9-10pm.

[perrykneeham]

Oh, it's that too. Absolutely.

[Repat Van]

Aug 27, 2024 8:49:55 GMT moggyonspeed said:

Deeply ambivalent about the whole dinner / tea thing, although anyone who uses the word "supper" needs either a) re-educating; or b) punching; or c) "pruning".

I don’t even know what time of day “supper” is. Late evening snack?

[moggyonspeed]

Aug 27, 2024 9:00:19 GMT perrykneeham said:

Very common on the sunny side of the Tamar. Usually shortened to sups in my family. Also, "crib" is used in lieu of morning tea break and often, lunch, especially at work.

Whodathunk of Jackers using the word supper?

Croust anyone?

[perrykneeham]

Whatever they call it in Jannerland, it'll be fishfingers and spaghetti hoops.  And almost certainly nicked.

[mids]

See also fish supper, black pudding supper etc.

[moggyonspeed]

Aug 27, 2024 9:34:38 GMT perrykneeham said:

Whatever they call it in Jannerland, it'll be fishfingers and spaghetti hoops.  And almost certainly nicked.

Janners - never give 'em house room!

[flatandy]

Anyone who says they're having "fish supper for tea" certainly needs help.

But Van's "geographical split" link proves that I am right. It's just chippy (geddit?) wannabe working class using "tea" as a badge of reverse snobbery.

[Repat Van]

Aug 27, 2024 13:22:38 GMT flatandy said:

Anyone who says they're having "fish supper for tea" certainly needs help.

But Van's "geographical split" link proves that I am right. It's just chippy (geddit?) wannabe working class using "tea" as a badge of reverse snobbery.

If you didn’t read it that’s fine. Just say that.

[moggyonspeed]

Aug 27, 2024 13:22:38 GMT flatandy said:

Anyone who says they're having "fish supper for tea" certainly needs help.

But Van's "geographical split" link proves that I am right. It's just chippy (geddit?) wannabe working class using "tea" as a badge of reverse snobbery.

Funnily enough, Major General Gruffly-Whackitt and I shall be discussing the very same over tiffin this afternoon.