It depends where you live

Where does 'up north' start?

Driving to and from Scotland I used to be amused at signs to "The South " north of the border at the Carter Bar.
The North is surely anywhere North of Watford Gap services?<hides>

My DP said couch back in the day in Co Durham. I still do sometimes.

My posh friend said recently that her living room was nearly big enough to be a second drawing room, so to her the size of room is what defines it. We used to call the room that nobody went into the front room. I've never met anyone with a parlour, but it sounds delightful!

Reading about "bunking off " reminded me that the School Attendance Officer in my Scottish hometown used to be known as the "Puggyman" so "pugging " was what schoolchildren got up to. Anybody else heard that in their part of the country?

My parents saw Yorkshire as down South. Now I'm in Yorkshire, I know it's most definitely North!

The School Attendance Officer was Mr McCammont, 'The School Board Man' - a figure to instil the fear of God into the hearts of would-be truants!

Living in Cheshire, 'up north' presumably starts somewhere north of Manchester - maybe Bolton?

My aunt who worked at Keele University used to laugh at the southerners at the annual conference she attended. When people from northern universities complained that the conferences were always held in the south, someone from the south replied: "Nonsense! we were in Coventry only last year!" #noidea!

In the Borders, "down South" could mean Newcastle!
In the SE, "ox carts start north of Watford" according to a spoof map I once saw in something like Private Eye.

DH tells me that in Wales, a butty, is a pal or friend.
Before I became what my dear late sister called "gentrified",
Lunch was dinner;
Dinner was 'tea or high tea (traditionally a cooked meal);
Tea proper was only for Sundays, with cake and fruit, cold meat and salad;
Supper was left overs or a bowl of cornflakes!!

When we were in Middleham we saw a stunning coloured racehorse called 'Fatrascal'. I thought it was an awful name for such a beautiful creature, until a friend told me it was the name of a Yorkshire teacake. Another coloured horse from the same stable had been called 'Rumbaba'.

Truanting at my school in the 60s was bunking off or knocking off. I did some of it in my time.

When I was about 18 and mixing with what my parents thought of as "posh people" they told me to never say "pleased to meet you" but "how do you do."

I was also taught never to say toilet but to say lavatory and then the word "loo" came in which was great.

If I'm in a house where I don't know the people very well I say
"May I use your facilities?"

Down here in the South, Up North begins somewhere just beyond Birmingham

Fish and Chip Shop = The Chipper.

When I lived in London the north started at Watford and anywhere above there was "all flats hats and braces".

When I moved from South Buckinghamshire to Warwick a friend's husband had been offered a job in Newcastle so she phoned and asked me what it was like. She had assumed all 'the north' was somewhere close.

Falconbird your 'facilities' post reminded me of some American friends of ours who, in the early sixties were looking around for a house to buy near his Air Force base in Norfolk. Driving out in the wilds, he was anxious to use someone's "facilities" and they came across a rather ancient garage cum petrol station. The conversation went along the lines of: "I wonder if I could use your bathroom?" Man: "we don't have no bathroom 'ere". "You don't have a restroom?" Man: "no but we got a sofa if you need to lie down"! He was eventually directed to an outdoor "facility" round the back such as many of us knew in those days!

I hope that you have all cleaned the back passage recently?I had forgotten this Northern expression, and My Grandma had the cleanest one in the street!

Isn't snicket, a ginnel in Lancashire?

At the time I left the North East, potatoes were bought from either the Green Grocer or the market, they were sold in stones are part of, I used to buy a quarter (3 1/2 lb) . The first time I went into a Green Grocer in the Midlands for some spuds, I asked, as I usually did, for a quarter of potatoes, the shop assistant looked quite shocked and said " You wont get many potatoes for a quarter of a pound meduck, but I have a few damaged ones I will give you" Not a good start to living in a new place, a flat above the shops, including the Green Grocer so I was labelled a poor northener

In Glasgow you go "down" to London or anywhere else south of Glasgow. You go "up" to inverness or anywhere north of Glasgow, but if you were to go to Edinburgh (a rare occurrence) you would say "I'm going through to Edinburgh" or you could say "I'm going through for the day" and everyone would know you meant to Edinburgh.

Unless you had no sense of direction, in which case you may say up, down or anything you like.

Speaking of conferences and meetings, how many times have I heard 'Oh we can't have it in Birmingham (or Manchester or Nottingham) it's too far!' Far from where? It is much further from London to Birmingham than it is from Birmingham to London!

Is it?

It does depend where you live and how your parents referred to these meals. When two people coming from different backgrounds get together, adjustments and agreements or disagreements result.
To me, I mean the following when I refer to the terms in the list.
Dinner = A meal in the evening typically comprising of meat, potatoes and two veg
Tea = A meal in the evening comprising of sandwiches, cake and or scones and a pot of tea
Lunch = A meal in the middle of the day typically comprising of meat, potatoes and two veg, or a sandwich type meal.
Supper = something before you go to bed.

Somebody in the thread referred to a butty with or without a top slice of bread, I've not come across this before, I've always thought a butty is a complete sandwich.
Generally, I love the various ways we refer to our food around the country, it's part of what makes us different and is particularly interesting when it involves regional dishes.

It is!
In West Yorkshire we say 'sandwich' - with a definite D! - but new greasy spoons use butty for bacon sandwiches.

Sarnie is used by people who choose to pick up every new bit of slang that comes along.

Up North starts somewhere above Bedfordshire since the M1 was opened.

I am going down to London and hope to go up to Scotland for a weekend later this month.
I went across to Bridlington on Tuesday and over to Huddersfield today.

In NE Scotland

Supper-evening meal eaten early in the evening
Fine piece-cake
Carpets-slippers

And most places are pretty much down from here!