People in the UK: a Question

[LeonBrooke]

When do you have the main meal of the day? And what do you call it? I know a woman who refers to the meal in the middle of the day as dinner from having done so in the UK. However she tries to adjust to living in New Zealand so she also refers to the evening meal as dinner. It can be very confusing!

[GridGirl]

Maybe its a UK thing. I often interchange the word dinner when refering to my lunchtime and main meal. Then again I will just as often use the word tea for my main meal which will probably confuse you even more. :p

[Rollo]

Dinner is technically the main meal of the day, so it's usually either during the middle of the day or in the evening. It could in theory be either lunch or at teatime.
Which one is her dinner? She may very well be correct.

Christmas Dinner is usually at lunchtime which throws most people out of whack, but yes it is indeed dinner.

[MrJan]

My Gran says dinner instead of lunch and so do a lot of people in the North. I refer to the middle eating time as lunch and evening as dinner or tea. As GridGirl said the terms are pretty much interchangeable and you just know fromcontext which meal people are actually talking about :D

[Drew]

I say dinner instead of lunch too. I have my main meal of the day anytime from 6pm til 10pm and I call it tea :p :

[sal]

Isnt the use of the English language a wonderful thing?! I go out for dinner quite regulary which usually means after 18.30pm but some people I know talk about popping out for a spot of supper! However if I cook anything around this time it's referred to as tea in the Lunn household and supper is something I used to get at about 21.00pm when I stayed with my grandparents when I was about ten years old!

I would consider having lunch at about 13.00pm and have never used an alternative for this

I watched a programme recently about the Edwardians and what they ate and they certainly had more meals a day than we do now so perhaps some of the terms are a hang over from then?. Perhaps the term "afternoon tea" which is usually served in cafes and hotels from about 14.30pm to 17.00pm is where the term tea comes from and evening dinner is again a hotel term

I think there may be regional and certainly were traditionally class differences aswell but am not enough of a social historian to know/care!

[Pawprint]

Yeah, lunch is usually around 1pm for me, and dinner varies from 5-9 depending on what day it is.

[inimitablestoo]

It's generally a North/South thing; in the north, dinner is around noon and tea in the evening; further south, lunch is around noon and dinner in the evening. However, that's not a hard and fast rule and, living in the Midlands, you tend to find a roughly 50:50 split...

[J4MIE]

Lunch is at lunchtime :s

Dinner/tea is in the early evening.

[BDunnell]

In the evening, and I call it either tea or dinner.

[LeonBrooke]

Wow, I'm glad I live in New Zealand - Here lunch is at noon and dinner is usually at 1700hrs, except in my house where it's at about 1930hrs.

I spent one weekend eating most of my meals with my friend, who's from Norfolk, at the student hostel (she's a university student). Several times she said we should go do something "before/after dinner", which was confusing because to her the meals were breakfast, dinner and dinner, so that meant we could be going to do that particular thing anytime between 1230hrs to about 1900hrs :confused:

Living in the UK must be so much fun with the cultural differences between the north and the south :)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Wow, I'm glad I live in New Zealand - Here lunch is at noon and dinner is usually at 1700hrs, except in my house where it's at about 1930hrs.

I spent one weekend eating most of my meals with my friend, who's from Norfolk, at the student hostel (she's a university student). Several times she said we should go do something "before/after dinner", which was confusing because to her the meals were breakfast, dinner and dinner, so that meant we could be going to do that particular thing anytime between 1230hrs to about 1900hrs :confused:

It's not confusing when you live here all your life. If someone says 'we'll do that after dinner' when the time is 11:30 and you haven't had your midday meal, you assume they mean after the midday meal (lunch).

My meals - (average vary in time)
Breakfast - (07:30 - 10:30)
Dinner - (12:00 - 13:30)
Three 'o' clocks - (15h00m00s) :D
Tea - (16:30 - 18:00)
Supper - (21:00 - 22:00)




Living in the UK must be so much fun with the cultural differences between the north and the south :)

Not really, its not every day that I come into contact with southerners.

[MrJan]

Not really, its not every day that I come into contact with southerners.

You mean Northerners :D To be honest the difference isn't that great apart from most people in the north think that 'the South' is pretty much London (us down in Devon don't all drink lager and eat fancy crap)

[LeonBrooke]

Three 'o' clocks - (15h00m00s) :D

This requirement must get a bit inconvenient if you're in the middle of doing something at this time, if everything goes on hold for your meal. My sympathies


You mean Northerners :D To be honest the difference isn't that great apart from most people in the north think that 'the South' is pretty much London (us down in Devon don't all drink lager and eat fancy crap)

So I take it you eat only bog-standard and unpretentious crap? This is fascinating and appeals to the amateur anthropologist inside me. How do you prepare it?

[Bezza]

You mean Northerners :D To be honest the difference isn't that great apart from most people in the north think that 'the South' is pretty much London (us down in Devon don't all drink lager and eat fancy crap)

This is because people in the North watch the "National News" and all we ever hear about is London. The weather in London. The disaster in London. Car crash in London. Missing child in London. Olympic games in London. Everywhere else is seemingly ignored.

And for the record, dinner is at mid-day, and TEA is the main meal - in the evening.

[Pawprint]

Well, on the news, it goes down to saying the village something has happened in in England, but it just says "Scotland" for anywhere North of the border.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

This requirement must get a bit inconvenient if you're in the middle of doing something at this time, if everything goes on hold for your meal. My sympathies


Not really. Being English it is just a natural reaction to stop at 3 'o' clock.

[LeonBrooke]

Surely it's not like all the clichés...

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Surely it's not like all the clichés...

And we all speak like the queen.

[LeonBrooke]

And in Scotland everyone wears a kilt! Do you have any stereotypes about New Zealanders?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

They pronounce 'E's as 'I'. So instead of saying 'message', you say 'missage' :p and 'A's as 'E's, So instead of saying 'back', you say 'beck' :erm:

[Daniel]

This is because people in the North watch the "National News" and all we ever hear about is London. The weather in London. The disaster in London. Car crash in London. Missing child in London. Olympic games in London. Everywhere else is seemingly ignored.


Is your TV actually plugged in or is that your silly ooh "I'm a northerner I don't like the South" streak showing through? :confused:

[LeonBrooke]

They pronounce 'E's as 'I'. So instead of saying 'message', you say 'missage' :p and 'A's as 'E's, So instead of saying 'back', you say 'beck' :erm:

Guilty :( although I, personally, try really hard not to...


Another question for you UK people: the word "schedule": how do you pronounce it? Sked-ule or shed-ule?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Another question for you UK people: the word "schedule": how do you pronounce it? Sked-ule or shed-ule?


Funnily I was talking to a girl at work about this and we both decided it was best to say 'shkedule' :p

[Drew]

Is your TV actually plugged in or is that your silly ooh "I'm a northerner I don't like the South" streak showing through? :confused:

Well more things happen in London, there are more people there...

But I've noticed this too, they often say and in Scotland or and in Wales and rarely exactly whereabouts.

[LeonBrooke]

Funnily I was talking to a girl at work about this and we both decided it was best to say 'shkedule' :p

:laugh:

One of my friends and I constantly argue about this. I say "shedule" and she says "skedule". After coming back from spending a weekend with her boyfriend's family she was telling me in amazement that his sister was saying "shedule" as if she'd never heard of that before. She was embarrassed when I reminded her that we discussed that particular point all the time.

But I have to say I had expected English people to get it correct, I'm disappointed in you Jon :p

[GridGirl]

Booo hiiissss someone mentioned the north south divide. :p

Personally I would say shed-ule. I always though saying it as sked-ule was how American's said it.

[LeonBrooke]

Booo hiiissss someone mentioned the north south divide. :p

Personally I would say shed-ule. I always though saying it as sked-ule was how American's said it.

It is how the Americans say it, but now most NZers say it that way... My English friend I referred to above says sked-ule too but I put that down to protective camoflage she'd adopted from spending four years in New Zealand.

[Pawprint]

I have no idea, I argue with myself about schedule!

So I just don't say anything. :)

'Remember' is pronounced 'mind' up here :D

[Daniel]

Well more things happen in London, there are more people there...

Exactly. Perhaps to please people like Bezza the BBC should have quotas for news based on the geographical size of a region. So if nothing happens in a certain area they still have to report some BS story about upper chipping skuntingtonthorpehill and how they've been having problems with the quality of potatoes in the local chippie rather than some real news which happens to a lot of people and has an effect on us all in some way or another.

Who wants to hear about politics (Based mainly in London if you didn't know) anyway? What impact does that have on our lives anyway!

Even our sleepy little town got a mention a few months back when we got a little bit of flooding. Never seen it mentioned otherwise and for good reason. Nothing much that's newsworthy ever happens here. Shouldn't that be how it always is?

In my unbiased opinion I don't think there is a North/South divide in the sense that Bezza is talking about. There is one in a cultural sense in that Northern people might drink different types of alcohol and they prefer Rugby League to Union and so on but these are such small differences in my opinion.

People in Australia talk of an East/West divide. We'll rib each other a little but it's nothing more than friendly rivalry. So there really isn't a divide in the sense some people claim there is in the UK. Same with Australians and New Zealanders :) We all make fun of each other but are happy about where we live (lived for me!). Perhaps the animosity some people should towards London is because people are just unhappy about where they live? Personally I'd find something to be happy about and shut up or top myself if it was me.

For the record I don't particularly like London. Too many people. I feel like just a number and rather than just walking a few hundred metres and being out in the countryside it feels like I'm 100's of km's from an open space.

[LeonBrooke]

I have no idea, I argue with myself about schedule!

So I just don't say anything. :)

'Remember' is pronounced 'mind' up here :D

Yes, I'd noticed that in the Scottish people I know. (I know a few more Scottish people than English people for some reason...)

Do you also pronounce "telephone" as if it's "atomic nucleus"? :p

[MrJan]

Perhaps the animosity some people should towards London is because people are just unhappy about where they live? Personally I'd find something to be happy about and shut up or top myself if it was me.

For the record I don't particularly like London. Too many people. I feel like just a number and rather than just walking a few hundred metres and being out in the countryside it feels like I'm 100's of km's from an open space.

I think people don't like London for the people. They never seem to have time for you whereas in Devon life is a lot slower and people tend to be friendlier. In London everyone is busy living THEIR life, it seems like a very selfish city.

Also I feel the same about the lack of space. Whenever I'm in London I feel almost claustraphobic, it was the same when I went to Toronto, the feeling that you are miles from isolation.

Having grown up being able to be at the beach or on the moors in twenty minutes this is quite disconcerting and not for me.

EDIT: Oh and it's SHEDULE. The other way is an American import that souns ugly.