Afternoon tea!

It didn't take me long to discover that Polish people strongly connect tea drinking with English people. The subject comes up often, particularly with new students. Adding milk to tea is so normal in England, but for Polish people it's a strange thing that English people do.

Ok, the stereotype is true, millions of cups of tea are drunk everyday in England, but does everything stop at 5 o'clock for tea? Of course not. Polish people reading this will be familiar with the 1969 Polish comedy film 'Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową' /'How I Unleashed World War II'. I've been told there is a scene in the film where the Germans and British are fighting, then at 5 o'clock the English stop for cups of tea! I've been unable to find it, but I'm sure it only reinforces this idea of the English tea obsession. (I also recommend any English people reading this to type 'Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz' into YouTube. It's another classic scene from the same film and highlights the struggles I'm facing with learning Polish!

So what exactly is 'Afternoon tea'? It's basically a small meal to stop you getting hungry before your evening meal. Traditionally, it's cups of tea, served with a selection of small sandwiches and cakes. In day to day life British people aren't having this. It's more of a special treat, enjoyed mainly by older generations in nice cafés or hotels. I'm not sure if I've even been for afternoon tea, but certainly my parents enjoy them occasionally. It was very popular in the past and began in the 19th century and was enjoyed mainly by wealthy people. If you've watched any 'period dramas' or films based on Jane Austen novels, you've probably seen 'afternoon tea' happening.

Now, 'afternoon tea' is not to be confused with 'tea breaks' and 'tea time'! Tea breaks are what you have at work, a short break where you have a drink, possibly tea. Tea time, confusingly is when it's time to eat dinner! Because in English, 'tea' also means 'dinner' or 'obiad' for Polish readers.

Finally, I want to just add that not all English people are tea drinkers. In fact I can't remember the last time I had a cup of tea with milk..........I much prefer a nice cup of coffee;)

#nativespeaker, #brzegdolnynativespeaker, #newvocabulary, #angielskilekcje