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It depends where you live

(203 Posts)
NanKate Wed 08-Jul-15 21:07:00

Dinner = evening meal
Tea = evening meal
Sweet = pudding/dessert
Going up to London = going from any direction
Pet = dear
Sarnie = sandwich

Gracesgran Thu 09-Jul-15 09:18:41

I don't mind what people call things - it's up to them, but this has made me realise how many rules there used to be - certainly in my life. I wonder if it was insecurity? Fitting in seemed to mean so much to my mother - not to my father he was a bit of a rebel.

I remember going to stay with my parents in law before we were married - early 20s - and my father-in-law taking my soon-to-be husband aside and suggesting that if we were now reading the newspaper I had bought it would be better not to take it into he office with him. As OH would never have read said newspaper it wasn't going to be a problem - it was the Guardian by the way shock

kittylester Thu 09-Jul-15 09:23:20

So do I roses! Phoenix, my very Lancashire Nan had a back kitchen and I always assumed it was left over from the days of sculleries. Mind you, my nan only had one anyway! confused

I was talking to someone in Brighton on the phone once who asked me what I meant by saying I was going to get mardy. My mind went a complete blank and I just couldn't explain. confused

Elegran Thu 09-Jul-15 09:35:49

I was about to post that sandwiches were sangwidges when I was young and anyone pronouncing the d or the ch was showing off (Sussex, Hampshire) but I see that Marelli claims it is posh Fife.

It was
breakfast
lunch (midmorning cuppa and biscuit, juice for children)
dinner (midday, hot meal and pudding such as apple pie and custard)
tea (something like Welsh rarebit, and cake)
supper (hot drink)

Snacks a rarity, occasional ice-cream on Sunday from the van, if it came round, sweets almost unknown.

Juliette Thu 09-Jul-15 09:44:20

phoenix the back kitchen was where all the food prep took place. The kitchen was where everyone congregated we call it the living room today. If you were very lucky there was a parlour at the front of the house, only used on high days and holidays. DH still calls our kitchen the back kitchen. 'You can take the lad out of........smile

Nonnie Thu 09-Jul-15 10:50:40

Bags on one side of Brum a piece is a slice of bread and butter.
When we got engaged I was asked "where are you holding it up at" and I wondered what had fallen down! Apparently it meant where are you having your wedding reception.

In Brum a crumpet is a pikelet. A "Paki shop" used to be any corner shop and not an insult or sign of racism. My Pakistani boss (not in Brum) told me that if his brother's business failed he would simply open another Paki shop.

Supper and dinner are interchangeable.
Tea is in the afternoon and never hot.
Pudding, never anything else.
Sitting room
Loo or lavatory, never toilet but could be bog!
Always go 'up' to town, whatever or wherever the town.

Let's just not go into what different types of bread are called in different places!

annodomini Thu 09-Jul-15 11:14:51

For us, in Ayrshire, a 'piece' was a snack. A 'playpiece' was a snack (could be biscuits or fruit - anything you could consume quickly) we took to school to eat at morning break, or 'playtime'. A 'jeely piece' was a jam sandwich - or, of course, 'sangwidge'.

NfkDumpling Thu 09-Jul-15 11:15:20

My MiL's kitchen contained the sink, Rayburn, table and chairs and an easy chair and was where everyone congregated. I suppose that continues today.

The back kitchen was a lean to off the kitchen with another sink, an old gas cooker for when the Rayburn put it's parts, washing machine, a clothes line for tea towels and 'smalls' which she'd never have hung outside. A utility room I suppose.

They always had dinner at one o'clock sharp. FiL would come home when he was working so the meal had to be on the table promptly. They considered it to be part of his being a white collar worker who could take a longer break. My father wasn't white collar and worked all over the place so he took a packed lunch and we had dinner in the evening (This meant with school dinners I had two main meals!). I married 'up'!

Modern working regimes don't really allow for eating a main meal half way through the day which is probably why most younger families have lunch and then dinner in the evenings.

Nonnie Thu 09-Jul-15 11:22:51

I grew up with a kitchen and a scullery, I suppose nowadays it would be a utility room but it was a lot bigger than my U room!

Lilygran Thu 09-Jul-15 11:55:18

I was putting on weight rather quickly (story of my life) with my first pregnancy and the GP said 'Too much snap'. Lincolnshire for snack, I discovered.
What about names for the short cut between buildings? I've got snicket, jennel and ginnel.

Lilygran Thu 09-Jul-15 11:57:02

The other was 'a biting on piece'. The snack you give to children who are hungry and will have to wait for the meal.

Elegran Thu 09-Jul-15 12:11:23

Path between buildings was a twitten (said as twitnin' )

Luckygirl Thu 09-Jul-15 12:24:47

I go into the living room and sit in the sofa.

annodomini Thu 09-Jul-15 13:06:26

Nowadays I sit on a sofa but in my childhood it was a settee which, for some reason, even then, I didn't like.

rosesarered Thu 09-Jul-15 13:56:14

An alley or shortcut is a snicket.

janerowena Thu 09-Jul-15 14:21:15

No it isn't, it's a twitten!

janerowena Thu 09-Jul-15 14:23:22

I think it comes from 'tween the two'.

hildajenniJ Thu 09-Jul-15 14:28:53

Breakfast
Dinner
Tea (but only on Sundays)
Supper
Pudding (never sweet/dessert)
We go up to London
We go through the cut (alley/passage)
We have a hall
Toilet
Anyone who hasn't had a chip buttie has to try one, don't forget the tomato ketchup. Fattening but extremely yummy.
I am not a fan of the fish finger sandwich (definitely with the d pronounced).

Maggiemaybe Thu 09-Jul-15 15:10:35

Breakfast, dinner, tea. Dinner in the evening only if we're having friends round. Supper is crackers or toast. High tea is usually cold apart from any pies involved, but is more substantial than afternoon tea.

Pudding, front room (we don't have a back one, but my mother called her two rooms the front room and the sitting room), loo, sofa or couch, snicket.

Sandwich with a pronounced d, but sarnie when it's got fishfingers in and butty when it's bacon or chips. And we just go to London. We have a hall, but I was brought up to call it a passage.

Strange how you have to think hard to recall what you say without thinking. grin

MiniMouse Thu 09-Jul-15 15:22:30

Just wondering if "Elevenses" is a regional term? Seems to have died out now!

newist Thu 09-Jul-15 15:58:18

In my lifetime, depending on where I have been living, I have made samwige,es <----?, in 4 different guises for men going to work. Bait, North East. Snap, Midlands. Pieces Scotland. Sandwiches, South Coast

Elegran Thu 09-Jul-15 16:20:11

Janerowena Definitions and origins of twitten (I did a google) -

Early 19th century: perhaps related to Low German twiete 'alley, lane'.

Perhaps alteration of Middle English twichen.

It has been stated that twitchen derives from old English twicene meaning cross ways or fork in the road.

NanKate Thu 09-Jul-15 16:53:33

At my parents' home we had a breakfast room which was attached to the kitchen which had a lovely cool pantry.

We also had a box room which was full of junk

I believe men going down the mine had a pasty which was savoury at one end and sweet at the other.

apricot Thu 09-Jul-15 20:44:11

My mother had taken U and Non U to heart so we said sitting room, sofa, napkin, lavatory but NEVER belly or bum or pardon. We ate (and still do) breakfast, lunch, tea and supper. We called our parents Mummy and Daddy and had a Granny, a Grandma and a Grandpa. My own children all said the same.
These things become "our" way speaking and divide the world into Us and Them.

janerowena Thu 09-Jul-15 21:09:35

Oh well found elegran. I love that word. I had to go through one to meet my best friend, that word means going out to play in the sun, to me. 'See you at the twitten!'

etheltbags1 Thu 09-Jul-15 21:38:37

In the north we say
dinner=lunch
tea=evening meal
supper=snack at about 9oclock.
bait=packed lunch
saamich=sandwich
the toon=Newcastle
me man=husband or partner
wor lad=husband or partner
wor lass=wife or partner
the bairn=child
the babby=the baby
the netty=the toilet
gannin to lundun=going to London
the polis=the police
and so on......