5.3. Vocabulary.

‘I’m tired of playing football. It’s cold. Let’s go and get a tea.’

That will be a cup of tea. No problem.

‘Lady Winthorpe, you are such a darling! Why don’t you come over one night for supper?’

This is a snobby, aristocratic way of saying ‘dinner’.

‘I’m a bit peckish. Do you fancy a bit of supper, a cheese sandwich or something?’

A small snack, or meal, eaten between dinner and bedtime.

‘What’s for dinner tonight mum? What again? But we had that for school dinner today!

The first one refers to the main family meal at home in the early evening. The second to early afternoon lunch.

‘Oh my God, you Brits eat at such weird times. In the USA, at this time, we’d be eating brunch, in the diner.

John Wayne here is talking about a meal that is eaten in the late morning. The word is the ‘br’ from ‘breakfast’ and the ‘unch’ from lunch. ‘Diner’ is not a meal time at all, but in fact a typical American place to eat somewhere between a café and a restaurant.

 ‘I can’t play football now. My mum has made tea for me, and I’ve got to go home.’

Not a cup of tea, but rather a working class or colloquial way of saying ‘dinner’.