In school I thought of something which is very rare of me in school. After school I do archery (trying to become the next robin hood ) and at the end this French exchange teacher coming in for a short time I was talking to asked me a question.
Now most languages are easy to learn for some people and they say if you speak another language and then trying learn to speak English is the hardest Language. I didn't think was true until today.The French Exchange teacher asked me after talking about who translations come out different "Why do we call our meal in the after noon tea when we drink tea and why do we have so many words for time of day where we eat, Meal, Dinner, Lunch, Tea." One of many many questions I cannot answer.
Then she also said "You get confused when people say I am going home to have tea now, do they mean a cup of tea or eating their tea." It was a very good question and one which has never occurred. It seems to me like one of those questions what has no answer, like 'What is the meaning of life.' My answer, stare them blind in the face.
Conclusion: The English language can be very baffling at sometimes. All you have to do is just talk and not think of things like this, but also think at what you are going to say to a person first (Be careful, Serious). If you do have the answer post a comment.
Interesting point - because of what I do, I often find myself confused over who means what and why and it's especially confusing when it comes to learning two languages at the same time and getting them mixed into one.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you realised, it used to be commonplace to have more than two meals in the late-afternoon and evening. For example, there would be breakfast in the morning, dinner (or lunch) at around 1PM, (high) tea at around 4 or 5 and supper (dinner) at around 7 or 8.
Probably because of the lifestlyes that we lead now, Britons have ended up merging the two last meals into one. Or just taking out (high) tea completely as this was often nothing more than sandwiches.
Note: High tea is different to afternoon tea. It's probably more like the French meal "Goûter." Although this is somewhat confusing as lots of people in France don't take this anymore and just have a piece of chocolate in bread (which is excellent.)
Hope that clears things up for you Connor,
Marc