Elevenses

Elevenses is a small snack eaten at around eleven o'clock in the morning, between breakfast and lunch, by people who felt the gap between the two was too long to face alone.^[1]

The name comes from the time at which it is eaten. Attempts to move elevenses to ten o'clock produced tenses, which grammarians would not allow, and attempts to move it to twelve produced lunch.

Origins

The origins of elevenses are disputed. The Agricultural School traces it to farm workers who had been up since before dawn. The Clerical School traces it to office workers who had been up since quarter past eight and felt much the same about it. Both schools agree it was invented by someone who had already had breakfast and could not stop thinking about it.

Timing

Elevenses officially begins at 11:00 and ends when the biscuits run out, which studies place at 11:04. It must be over before noon, by which point it would be lunch, and anyone still eating elevenses at 12:00 is legally having an early lunch and a late snack at the same time.^[2]

Components

A traditional elevenses consists of:

• A hot drink, from a kettle.
• A biscuit.
• A second biscuit, taken “to be polite”.
• A strong feeling that it is nearly lunchtime, which it is not.

An elevenses with no biscuits is classed as a break. An elevenses with a slice of cake is classed as a celebration, and requires an occasion to be found for it afterwards.

See also

• Morning – where elevenses lives
• Noon – the deadline
• Kettle – an essential supplier

References

1. Digestive, D. (1999). Not Quite Lunch. Crumb Press. Ch. 11.
2. Royal Institute of Timekeeping (2003). “11:04: A Study of the Biscuit Tin”.