On one of my Uncles visits to England from Canada, he wanted ti visit Canterbury Cathedral. He was billeted there during WWII and had fond memories of the stall in the entrance of the Cathedral where he'd go for "tea and a wad" .
A wad could be a thick chunk of bread and jam or a piece of cake. As pictured here by a soldier >>>
The stall was run by local wives who handed out tea etc to local citizens who'd been bombed and also to the soldiers from the nearby barracks.
Uncle Fred was very disappointed when he saw that the stall wasn't there anymore :~)
It originates from the original Persian name for tea which itself derives from Mandarin chá.
English has all three forms: cha or char attested from the 16th century; tea, from the 17th; and chai, from the 20th.
"A Pukka Cuppa Cha" - Pukka (which is actually Hindi for genuine or authentic).
'Arst 'em if they could do wiv a cuppa cha'Arst = ask
wiv = with
cuppa = cup of
cha = Chai or tea
Ask them if they'd like a cup of tea
I found this on a forum for truck drivers:
The standard order was "full fry, mug of tea and a wad please", which for our foreign cousins translates as: a couple of fried eggs; loads of bacon; sausages; mushrooms; fried potatoes; fried bread; tomatoes; a huuuuge tea in an enamel mug; and the thickest chunks of bread you've ever seen.
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