{"id":7020,"date":"2025-02-28T14:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T14:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/?p=7020"},"modified":"2025-02-28T14:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T14:23:18","slug":"fancy-a-cuppa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/uncategorized\/fancy-a-cuppa\/","title":{"rendered":"Fancy a Cuppa?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019m just on my way back from England where we celebrated my wonderful Dad\u2019s 98th<\/sup> birthday with chocolate cake, candles and a cuppa. If you ever visit Britain, you might notice that no matter what happens\u2014rain, sunshine, good news, bad news\u2014there is always one solution: a cup of tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea is not just a drink in Britain; it is a way of life. It is a ritual, a comfort, and sometimes, an excuse to stop working for a few minutes. The English are not known for their dramatic displays of emotion. Instead, they like to quietly sip their tea and pretend everything is fine \ud83d\ude0a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you are in Britain and someone offers you tea, you should never say, \u201cNo, thanks\u201d immediately. That would be too direct and the cause of the first major argument I had with my late husband … Instead, the correct way to refuse is to say something like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cOh, I wouldn\u2019t want to trouble you.\u201d (Even if they have already made the tea.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cI\u2019m fine for now, but thank you.\u201d (Even if you are desperate for tea.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you do want tea, don\u2019t just say, \u201cYes.\u201d That\u2019s too strong. Instead, say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say no to a cup, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cIf you\u2019re having one, I\u2019d love one too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re feeling really British, try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 \u201cOh, go on then!\u201d (as if you\u2019re doing them a favour).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a short film on BBC Breakfast this morning about a man carrying a thermos of hot water, tea bags, milk and sugar in his rucksack. He wanders the streets offering a cup of tea to strangers walking alone. But he doesn’t just ask, “Would you like some tea?” That would be too direct. Instead, he says, “I don’t suppose you’d like a cup of tea, would you?” – a wonderfully British way of making it easy to say no. Some politely decline, some smile and accept, and for a few, this simple question starts a much-needed conversation. In a country where people are often too shy to ask for company, sometimes all it takes to combat loneliness is a cup of tea – and a question that makes it okay to say no. I was moved by this simple gesture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you ever find yourself in the UK, remember if someone asks, \u201cFancy a cuppa?\u201d just say yes. You won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m just on my way back from England where we celebrated my wonderful Dad\u2019s 98th birthday with chocolate cake, candles and a cuppa. If you ever visit Britain, you might notice that no matter...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7020"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7025,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020\/revisions\/7025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jolliffe.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}