The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

milasavesmoney

I'm loving these descriptions!!! And now I'm hungry from reading them.

Last night my SIL made a comment that made the entire room cringe. (A little background: he is from NY state ) It was at a 'meet and greet' drinks affair for my daughter's high school graduation 20 yr. reunion. Now we are a state where Hispanics and Mexican Americans outnumber Anglos slightly and everyone gets along. We all think of ourselves as one society here in New Mexico.
He told one of Olivia's classmates "well, the white guy is here now" he thought he was being funny but it was a very offensive thing to say. We do not view each other by ethnic heritage. (Except at Cinco de Mayo which we all celebrate anyway)
Olivia was mortified. So humor is another thing that can easily be misunderstood in different areas of our country. We joke and think we are hysterically funny...he just sits there. He says something that he means to be funny ( East coast humor) and we get offended. Olivia has to translate for both sides. It's work out fine within our family but in social situations...:eek:

Islandmaid

Just popping in to add my best wishes to Monna's DIL mum,s news - how awful for you all, especially her - fingers crossed its sorted quickly and efficiently X

Loving the conversation about Colloquialisms - being of the correct lineage here on the Isle of Wight, makes both my husband and I 'Caulke Heads' especially as born in Cowes but my kids, being born on the 'north Island' are technically 'overners'. As Monna said, Grockles are tourists, and a more recent addition are the DFL's - down from Londoners - either to their second homes, or yachts.

Our packed lunches were always 'nammit' and the sea is the 'oggin' - 'mallishag's' are caterpillars, and a gallybagger is a scarecrow

Afternoon tea, was a meal taken between luncheon and dinner, when dinner was normally served around 8pm - high tea, was for more common folk, a light meal eaten after work 'up' at the table, ie 'high' when their 'dinner' would have been eaten at lunch time.

I adore the way language evolves.

I'll get back in me box now X

EstherH

Hi, I mostly lurk on here but just wanted to say that I have heard a mid morning snack at school break or work called 'lunch'. It really confused me because it was other people in my area but not something I had come across growing up.
As a child we had a cooked mid day meal which we called dinner but when I started work in the big city it became lunch. Our evening meal which as a child was then something on toast maybe was tea and we still call our evening meal tea even though it is nowadays a cooked meal.

What was the word for tourists? Grockles? I have never heard of that before.

Just wanted to add my tuppence worth.

Esther xx

EstherH

Oh, and high tea always makes me think of what the famous five had to eat when a kind farmers wife fed them during or after their adventures.

Esther xx

greenbee

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We have breakfast, lunch and supper without being in the tiniest bit posh!

Me too I think MTSM has reclassified an awful lot of middle class people as upper class :cool:

The upper classes traditionally had their main meal as 'dinner' with lunch being a light meal in the middle of the day and supper being another light meal at the end of the day (generally after/at the end of parties). Dinner was the evening meal except on Sundays when the servants had a half day - hence 'Sunday Dinner' being the main meal in the middle of the day.

We always had 'tea' straight after school and then supper as an evening meal after homework. It was rather more substantial than it is now (well, we'd been at school rushing around all day, not just sitting on our bums) where it is more likely to be a cup of tea and either a biscuit or a piece of cake or a piece of toast or a crumpet.

There also seems to be a division between people who tend have lunch at midday, and those who have it at 1pm. And again, those who have an early evening meal and those who eat later. I have been trying to eat earlier as there is good evidence that it has health benefits, but I find it difficult to fit this in with work - I'm sure many people find it hard with longer working hours and commuting times. Friends with European backgrounds tend to eat later.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Cream tea can be anything from an expensive but delicious afternoon treat at a hotel or restaurant involving tiny finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off (two bites each size) with ham, egg and cress, smoked salmon and cream cheese, cheddar cheese, pate etc savoury fillings only and small assorted cakes, scones jam and cream, pastries, shortbread biscuits and as much nice tea as you desire served with either milk or lemon right through to the farmhouse light fluffy scones served with homemade jam and clotted cream again with pots of tea and usually served on beautifully decorated china. It's always a real treat and feels very naughty indeed!

The hotel I stayed in last week was charging the equivalent of £45 per person for 'afternoon tea'... it looked lovely. But not that lovely!

moneyistooshorttomention

....and then there's the whole re-think (ie "blow the British way of doing things" per se) and I've just been reading a book that says "most of the world" starts lunch at 12 noon to 12.30pm and has their main meal then and then has dinner pretty early on and makes it a light meal and that that is actually the "healthy" way to do things.

So - I think personally I might just throw the whole "British" way of doing things straight out the window in that case and do that - if that's the healthier way to do things.

That's one way to solve the whole "Just WHICH way do I personally do things" conundrum...:rotfl:

I'm glad personally that employers no longer come into the equation - and I can just work out my "lifestyle" for myself. I think dinner is probably coming later and later on basically in Britain currently - courtesy of all that commuting to work many of us are now being expected to do....and I dont think its healthy to be thinking in terms of having dinner later than, say, 7pm. It is sorta like employers are nowadays dictating "our" lifestyle...

I think there may be a difference in dinner times that are expected in European countries - I know I was delighted to announce to the boyfriend I was on holiday with in Holland that "Look - a lot of them seem to be out there in the restaurants starting dinner - though its just 6pm" and managed to persuade him we should join them. But I couldnt have a holiday in Spain by the sound of it - I'd have visions of dinner not starting till 9pm or thereabouts - agh!!!!! NO chance as far as I'm concerned - as a "lark" that would mean I'd never actually get to have my dinner in the first place!!

carolbee

Islandmaid wrote: »

Just popping in to add my best wishes to Monna's DIL mum,s news - how awful for you all, especially her - fingers crossed its sorted quickly and efficiently X

Loving the conversation about Colloquialisms - being of the correct lineage here on the Isle of Wight, makes both my husband and I 'Caulke Heads' especially as born in Cowes but my kids, being born on the 'north Island' are technically 'overners'. As Monna said, Grockles are tourists, and a more recent addition are the DFL's - down from Londoners - either to their second homes, or yachts.

Our packed lunches were always 'nammit' and the sea is the 'oggin' - 'mallishag's' are caterpillars, and a gallybagger is a scarecrow

Afternoon tea, was a meal taken between luncheon and dinner, when dinner was normally served around 8pm - high tea, was for more common folk, a light meal eaten after work 'up' at the table, ie 'high' when their 'dinner' would have been eaten at lunch time.

I adore the way language evolves.

I'll get back in me box now X

I've just come out of The Caulkheads in Sandown, didn't know it was named after you Islandmaid!

Islandmaid

carolbee wrote: »

I've just come out of The Caulkheads in Sandown, didn't know it was named after you Islandmaid!

It's after 'caulking' between wood in boat building, which was the main industry on the Island for years, especially Cowes - my first husband was a boat builder, went on to be a shipwright, my current husband was one too, now a carpenter joiner, and my eldest son is now a boat builder.

Some say it's after the wooden mallets used for knocking in the caulk - ie a bit thick

THIRZAH

EstherH wrote: »

Oh, and high tea always makes me think of what the famous five had to eat when a kind farmers wife fed them during or after their adventures.

Esther xx

That's where I first came across the term "high tea"-they'd have things like seed cake which they seemed to love . I was so disappointed when I finally got to try it-it was dry and had the most peculiar taste.

nursemaggie

The BBC did an interesting series called "The Evaluation of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner" a few years ago. You will see how it went from agricultural life to the upper classes and down to the working class and how it has changed over time.

You should be able to find it by searching You Tube. I may be slightly wrong on the title.