Tea (the evening meal)
What it really means
In much of northern England, "tea" means the evening meal, not the drink. "What's for tea?" = what's for dinner? Context makes the meaning clear, but it confuses many newcomers.
Context, tips & common mistakes
Tea is the drink — but across much of the North, the Midlands, Scotland and Wales, 'tea' is also the evening meal: 'what's for tea?' means what's for dinner, and 'come round for your tea' is a dinner invitation, not a hot-drink appointment. In these households 'dinner' can mean the midday meal (hence 'school dinners' and 'dinner ladies'). Southern and middle-class usage tends to run breakfast–lunch–dinner instead.
When invited 'for tea', the stakes are a meal versus a biscuit, so decoding matters: the time is your best clue (around 5–7pm means food), and 'shall I eat first?' is a perfectly acceptable clarifying joke. 'Supper' adds a final twist — a light late-evening snack in some homes, a full posh dinner in others. Nobody minds you asking; Brits find their own meal-name chaos funny.