On 10/02/2011 04:34 AM, Terence wrote:
On 2 October 2011 01:44, Lisi<lisi.reisz@gmail.com> wrote:I just asked my granddaughter what meal she would mean by tea and she said "What meal? There isn't a meal called tea." So it hasn't yet changed and is still used as I have described above. Sorry - language fascinates me!And me. Down here in Devon "Tea" as a meal is as you say, with such food as bread and butter, scones and cream, sandwiches etc.. "High tea", on the other hand consists of a hot course, but of a lesser quantity than a dinner or a supper meal. Perhaps soup, baked beans or sardines on toast, or even ham and eggs. I remember fondly high tea with my great aunt with fresh cod roe on toast.....
/snip/
Another interesting thing (at least to me) is the distinction between "dinner" and "supper". Does one dine or sup in the evening (I am assuming that no one on the list would have "dinner" mid-day!). In my experience it would seem that the usage depends on the formality of the occasion, with dinner being the more formal.
When I was a child in the US, my mother, who was descended from the folks who landed here in the 1700s, insisted on having Sunday dinner at about 1PM. I never knew anyone else who did that, but I never knew anyone else who was descended from the colonists. (One of my ancestors almost became the second Vice-President.) --doug /snip/ -- Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley