why do English people call their dinner 'tea' and what is the origin of this expression?

Answer 1

English Teatime is not a full dinner. Think of snacks plus tea. Things like crumpets and light sandwiches are served.

Answer 2

In the 19th century tea was rare and often taken at the social hour of 4:30 by the upper classes to show off to their friends, often served with an array of cakes it became know as high tea. When the value of tea dropped with increased trade in the west and east Indies high tea became popular with the middle and working classes who could now afford it, however the emphasis was moved from the beverage onto the food becoming the 3rd meal of the day. Thus it made the transition to dinner, however still being called 'tea'.

Answer 3

I think some regions of the north of England refer to the main evening meal as tea. For those from the south of England, tea is black-tea accompanied with biscuits/cake/crumpets/muffins etc.
Of course with the longer hours people work nowadays, many people don't get a chance to have tea & biscuits between 3 & 5pm during the week. They'd either still be at work until 8pm or sitting in a traffic jam in a 20-mile 2-hour commute back home!

Answer 4

In earlier times it was customary to eat dinner earlier in the day. But with urbanization and industrialization, this changed.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word "dinner" referred to breakfast in Middle English. It derives from late Latin disiunare (to break fast) which has also provided both the French déjeuner (breakfast or lunch, depending on region) and dîner (supper or lunch, depending on region). The Spanish word desayunar, or "breakfast," also comes from this Latin root.

In well-off families in England during the mid-17th century, dinner was served at any time between 11 a.m. and noon and was a rich, heavy, alcoholic meal that lasted for anything up to 3 or 4 hours. After the meal proper, the men would stay at the table to smoke, chat, and drink, while the women would retire to a boudoir to talk, sew, and brew tea.

Then during the 18th century, dinner was served at a gradually later and later time until by the early 1800s, the normal time was between 7:00 and 8:30 p.m. and an extra meal called luncheon had been created to fill the midday gap.

[edit] Dinner customs around the world

[edit] Australia, USA and Canada

In Australia and most parts of the United States and Canada, dinner is the evening meal served around 6 to 8 p.m. In some regions, such as the southern United States, Maritimes, parts of Saskatchewan, and Québec, the evening meal is called supper (souper in Québec), and dinner (dîner) refers to the noon meal, which itself would be called lunch in most parts of the United States and Canada. In the Southern United States, the main meal of the day is called Dinner, whether taken at noon or in the evening. On farms it was traditionally taken at noon. If Dinner, the main meal of the day, is at noon, the evening meal is called Supper.

Answer 5

It's more complicated than that. It's a class thing.

Tea is working class, served around 5 pm and this is normally the evening meal. Working class people refer to the MID-DAY meal, i.e., 1 pm , as dinner.

For the wealthier, Dinner is more like 8pm, once daddy gets home from the office etc. More for your upper class types.

This is how it is in Scotland but nio doubt there are regional variations.

Answer 6

There is a division here by social class (if we're allowed to say that here) and by region.

The tendency in the north of England is to refer to the evening meal as "tea". Further south, people refer to the large evening meal as "dinner" or "supper" and tea is something taken around 3:30 to 4:30pm. However, I was reminded yesterday that this is also a socio-economic variant: a team of three guys came to cut back some trees for us during the morning and one of them said, "We'll be stoppin' at about 1 o'clock for dinner."

Mid-day meals at school are referred to as "school dinner" - I've never heard "school lunch"!!!

Answer 7

Dinner is dinner and tea is tea!
Tea is traditionally taken at 4pm- you know tea, sandwiches perhaps cakes and crumpet or muffins.

Dinner is later 7pm.

I suppose some people take the middle road and eat dinner early and call it Tea.

Answer 8

The meaning of 'dinner' is a cooked meal. 'Tea' and 'lunch' are light meals. If you have your cooked meal at midday and a light meal (ie sandwiches) in the evening, you have dinner and tea. If you have a light meal at midday and a cooked meal in the evening, you have lunch and dinner.

It is called tea because a light evening meal is served around about the time that traditionally people drank tea at. So the meal was eaten at 'tea time'

Answer 9

It's just bad English.
There is High Tea, which is usually served late afternoon, and consists of sandwiches and cream cakes, though nowadays you will probably get a substantial hot meal as well in a restaurant or hotel.
Dinner is more formal, and if you eat late, it is called Supper

Answer 10

I don't think we all do. Lunch is at around mid-day, tea is at about three to four o'clock and dinner is the evening meal.