Term I never realised was exclusively Australian:

[deird1]

"morning tea"


Apparently it's only ever heard of in Australia and New Zealand. (Along with "afternoon tea".)

But seriously? The Brits jolly well invented the morning tea break - do they really not use the term? *is baffled*


(For those who are sadly unfamiliar with our wonderful vernacular: morning tea involves snacks of some kind, eaten at about 10am. It doesn't necessarily involve cups of tea.)

Comments

[speaker_to_customers]

In English English it's 'elevenses'. Oddly, in England we have 'morning coffee' and 'afternoon tea'. I have no idea why.

[klme.livejournal.com]

WHAT? How did you discover this fact Deird? So I assume "morning tea time" is an Australianism too? How do you say that in England? "OK everyone, it's elevenses time" ?

[deird1]

Someone was ranting about a fanfic they'd read, set in America, and saying "Look, this character is American, and not into tea the way British people are - he wouldn't be bringing muffins for morning tea."

And all the Brits were chiming in with "Morning tea? He wouldn't call it that even if he was British." and also assuming that "morning tea" was implying cups of tea...

[bruttimabuoni]

I'm basically with Speaker. Though 'elevenses' is a tad Winnie the Pooh for me.

'Tea break' is the all purpose one I would use for everyday needs - morning and afternoon. It's distinguished from afternoon tea by a) being about a break in work rather than actually specifying any particular meal and b) tending not to come with scones and cucumber sandwiches; oh and c) actually, it doesn't need to involve tea either, whereas afternoon tea certainly does. I never normally say 'afternoon tea', unless I mean some huge production involving doilies and aunts.

[quinara]

+1 for 'tea break'. I wouldn't be surprised if people used 'morning tea' to talk about the cup of tea they have when they first wake up, in order to face the world...

[deird1]

Really? So afternoon tea is some big production involving cucumber sandwiches?

But... it's just snacks in the afternoon...

*whimpers*

[bruttimabuoni]

DW isn't sending me comments, dammit. Ahem. 'Afternoon tea' doesn't absolutely have to be so fancy, but that's what I would understand by it.

Just 'tea' in the afternoon mind you, could be anything from a cup of tea to posh afternoon tea to a full meal at about 5-6 pm. That's a class thing (vs dinner, supper), which is now so convoluted I'm not even going to try to disentangle it. "Come over for tea on Friday" is probably the most complex social invitation you could give an English person.

[deird1]

"Come over for tea on Friday" is probably the most complex social invitation you could give an English person.

Heh, yes. It's bad enough here: one of my American friends used to get terribly frustrated because she'd ask if we wanted tea and all us Aussies would be saying "But... we already ate..."
Eventually, she started offering "hot tea". We understood that, but were pretty clear on the fact that she should have offered "tea or coffee".

[trouble]

Tea Break was my experience as well. For some reason (being from Canada) it struck me as more civilised than coffee break. I have no idea why.

[dipenates]

See also: play-lunch.

[deird1]

Yes!

[vass]

OMG, playlunch! That takes me back.

[vass]

I had no idea!

[deird1]

IKR???

[libco.livejournal.com]

When I went to look it up in wiki I saw this: "In the United States, elevenses refers to the now extinct custom of the late-morning whiskey break."

WHY OH WHY DID THIS DIE!!???!!??

[slaymesoftly]

Great fun discussion. Here, it's more likely to be a "coffee break", although what you drink then is optional. As someone else pointed out, it signifies a break from work, more than an actual event. "Afternoon tea" would probably be thought of as a more formal occasion, although not usually at the level I'd expect from a British afternoon "tea".