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Tea time

Posted by ESC on March 02, 2002

In Reply to: Tea time posted by ESC on March 02, 2002

: : : 1969 saw the Jagger/Richards team compose "Live with Me" for their "Let It Bleed" album.

: : : They wrote:

: : : "I got nasty habits, I take tea at three
: : : Yes, and the meat I eat for dinner
: : : Must be hung up for a week....."

: : : What is so nasty about drinking tea at 3?

: : This is just a guess but He may not literally be talking about drink, tea. Tea is also used to describe dinner. I'm not sure where it comes from but I noticed people from the South and the Midlands using it. So "I'm picking up a few things for tea." means to pick up some thing to have at dinner. "Dinner" can also mean somehting apart from the main meal. And here's where I need the help of our British friends. I think there may be some logic to it, but I'm not sure what.

: : It may have nothing to do with the song but it's worth making the point about tea because it can cause confusion.

: : Also a thought about the lyric.I had a work mate from the wilds of Surrey (Weybridge actually), Who was fond of pontificating about how meat needed to age and how Americans didn't let it age enough. But then he also complained it was impossible to get a decent cup of coffee in France. I haven't investigated this much but I do thing there is something about hanging meat - particularly tough meat that makes it more tender. The meat probably starts to decay - but let's not go there. I do know that Pheasant is often hung because it is tough. Maybe he's a poacher.

: We didn't drink tea on White Oak Mountain, West Virginia. So I'm not much help. And, as noted in the previous post, I can't find my copy of "Bob's Your Uncle."

Here we go:

high tea - tea and cakes, maybe sandwiches, served at 4 p.m.
elevenses - mid-morning tea or coffee break.

"Bob's Your Uncle: A Dictionary of Slang for British Mystery Fans" by Jann Turner-Lord, Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, California, 1992.

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