VOOZH about

URL: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/a-tea.3822584/

⇱ a tea | WordReference Forums

Menu
Install the app
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.

a tea

vladv

Banned
Russian-Russia
They watch soccer on television, play dominos and occasionally even order a tea. Would the meaning be different if we used "tea" without an article?
It would then be ambiguous, implying either a meal or just a drink – but probably the former. The same applies even with the indefinite article, but less so.

To confuse matters still further, I don’t think “tea” is even considered a meal in the US (and the use of “soccer” suggests that you’re talking in AE!). It’s pretty-much obsolete in the UK too, except in teashops/cafés.
In US English, "a tea" would be a serving of tea - a glass of cold tea or a cup of hot tea. "Tea" would be slightly less specific but it would still be the beverage. We don't usually serve pots of tea for more than one person except at some Asian restaurants. There are a few places (fancy hotels, British-themed restaurants, the American Girl doll store, ...) where you can have the watercress finger sandwich and pastries sort of "high tea" but then you're intentionally doing something "British." 👁 Smile :)
In the UK the stereotype is cucumber sandwiches (with the crusts cut off and cut into 4 diagonally, of course!).
Would the meaning be different if we used "tea" without an article?
In the US, the meaning is the same. "A tea" means "A cup of tea". So whether you "order tea" or "order a tea", the waiter will bring you a cup of tea:

"Waiter, I'll have tea, please."
"Waiter, I'll have a tea, please."
"Waiter, I'll have a cup of tea, please."
"Waiter, I'll have some tea, please."
A cafeteria-style restaurant I would sometimes eat at while in college served tea in "hottles". And then we would pour from the hottles to our cups.

I would ask for "a tea" or "a hottle of tea". It really did not matter, all the tea orders were filled with hottles.

<Edited by moderator (Florentia52) to remove topic drift>
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top Bottom