# Milk in First **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980 "2008-05-04T05:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thetada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@thetada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thetada)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/1 "2008-05-04T05:50:21Z")
I meant to comment on an existing thread on the subject but was directed away. Anyway, further to that issue I was wondering if Cecil (I’m suddenly concerned I’m asking in the wrong place. My apologies for these various blunders) knows the word that refers to whether milk is taken before or after the tea. It was used in a 1992 British TV series called The Life and Times of Henry Platt. The hapless teenager was asked if he was [ins sought word]. “No,” he replied, “I’m Church of England.” The other person discreetly explained that she was asking if he wanted the milk in the cup before or after the tea was poured in. Many thanks for your help with this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/2 "2008-05-04T05:51:41Z")
What? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/3 "2008-05-04T07:26:59Z")
To paraphrase: The OP is looking for a (slang?) word which describes whether a person, when drinking tea, puts the milk into the cup before or after pouring the tea in. It was used in a 1992 British TV series called “The Life and Times of Henry Platt”. In the episode it was used in, the character was asked if he was [the word we do not know], and his reply was, “No, I’m Church of England.” The character who asked then explains what she meant by the question that prompted his incorrect reply. That sound about right, **thetada**? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/4 "2008-05-04T07:30:22Z")
“MIF” and “TIF”. (“Milk In First” and “Tea In First”.) Not to be confused with “MILF”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/5 "2008-05-04T11:10:34Z")
I was taught in English class that calling someone an “MIF” was derogatory - that they were poor, and their cups were so bad quality that they’d crack if you poured the hot tea in first. Hence the milk in first. Any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/6 "2008-05-04T15:31:26Z")
Grammanaut writes: \> I was taught in English class that calling someone an “MIF” was derogatory . . . This was part of the curriculum in your school? What exactly did your teacher do on that day? Did he or she say, “O.K., class, today we’re going to finish up with our discussion of Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_. Then we’ll be talking about why you shouldn’t call someone a MIF.” ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/7 "2008-05-04T15:51:38Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] This was part of the curriculum in your school? What exactly did your teacher do on that day? Did he or she say, “O.K., class, today we’re going to finish up with our discussion of Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_. Then we’ll be talking about why you shouldn’t call someone a MIF.” [/QUOTE] I’m Swedish, so I studied English as a foreign language; learning a little about British and U.S. culture is included. For some reason that sidenote about MIF stuck. I never got around to asking a Brit if it was true. (I like your version better though) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/8 "2008-05-04T20:30:30Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Grammanaut writes: \> I was taught in English class that calling someone an “MIF” was derogatory . . . This was part of the curriculum in your school? What exactly did your teacher do on that day? Did he or she say, “O.K., class, today we’re going to finish up with our discussion of Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_. Then we’ll be talking about why you shouldn’t call someone a MIF.” [/QUOTE] No no no. You know that the discussion of MIFs comes after the class has read Gulliver’s Travels! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mwbrooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mwbrooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwbrooks)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/9 "2008-05-04T21:32:36Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] No no no. You know that the discussion of MIFs comes after the class has read Gulliver’s Travels! :smack: [/QUOTE] I thought it went with the discussion of Harvard vs. Von Neumann. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/10 "2008-05-04T21:39:18Z")
A brit friend of mine used to say things were ‘non-U’ or ‘U’, depending on whether or not the were what the Upper Class would do. With the description above, MIF would be non-U. Then in the 80’s, people started saying “Oh, that’s so \*you!” \* meaning that they were behaving in a stereotypical way. The original meanings of “U” and “non-U” seemed to disappear overnight, they’d never been particularly common down this edge of the world anyway, though I’ve heard them on British shows every so often (in the non / Upper Class sense). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/11 "2008-05-04T21:59:01Z")
[QUOTE=mwbrooks] I thought it went with the discussion of Harvard vs. Von Neumann. 😃 [/QUOTE] OK, you. Get off the bus and RAM it! ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/12 "2008-05-05T01:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=Grammanaut] I was taught in English class that calling someone an “MIF” was derogatory - that they were poor, and their cups were so bad quality that they’d crack if you poured the hot tea in first. Hence the milk in first. Any truth to this? [/QUOTE] Fantastic, I get to be the one who shows up with Miss Manners’ answer. > [@Miss Manners](#): > > …According to dear Evelyn Waugh, “All nannies and many governesses…put the milk in first,” which has given rise to the disparaging remark, “She’s rather milk-in-first, darling.” Class indications aside, a lady of Miss Manners’ acquaintance wonders how one would know how much milk to put in first, as she judges her tea by the color… ---
**Author:** ![thetada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@thetada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thetada)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/13 "2008-05-05T02:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] A brit friend of mine used to say things were ‘non-U’ or ‘U’, depending on whether or not the were what the Upper Class would do. With the description above, MIF would be non-U. I can’t help thinking this might have been what was said. It was more than 16 years ago so I really don’t remember. Don’t know whether it’ll interest anyone but an urban myth was dispelled on another website that the acronym MIF was infact where the word to be “miffed” came from, as in, I was miffed because she put the milk in first, etc Thanks everyone for your input ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/14 "2008-05-05T02:22:19Z")
Yeah, [miffed was no acronym](http://www.word-detective.com/051600.html#miffed). ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/15 "2008-05-05T03:35:39Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] Yeah, miffed was no acronym. [/QUOTE] Ha ha, a mod screwed up his link! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![thetada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@thetada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thetada)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/16 "2008-05-08T10:17:36Z")
Hello all, don’t know if anyone’s interested but I wrote to the writer of the Life and Times of Henry Pratt, David Nobbs, and he got back to me in two days. The word is postlactarian. Prelactarian means that you take the milk in before the tea. He told me he was surprised that neither of them are in the dictionary, leading me to wonder if it’s a neologism coined by one of his townsmen. Anyway, it’s great fun going around asking people if they’re postlactarian. The more astute (boring) types typically just immediately ask what it means, while others look a little flummoxed and warily hazard an answer. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/17 "2008-05-08T10:32:37Z")
Interesting. Now that you mention it, it does ring a bell. (Although surely any fairly educated person would know what “postlactarian” meant, even if they had never encountered the word before? “Post-” is a pretty common and easily understood prefix, and “lacto-” immediately says “milk” to anyone with half an interest in the origin of words.) ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/18 "2008-05-08T10:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] A brit friend of mine used to say things were ‘non-U’ or ‘U’, depending on whether or not the were what the Upper Class would do. With the description above, MIF would be non-U. [/QUOTE] The whole ‘U’ versus ‘non-U’ debate concerned manners and word usage as employed by the upper classes (U) against those used by the aspiring middle classes (non-U). This is because nobody gave a shit what the working classes said or did anyway. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-first/447980/19 "2008-05-09T03:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] The whole ‘U’ versus ‘non-U’ debate concerned manners and word usage as employed by the upper classes (U) against those used by the aspiring middle classes (non-U). This is because nobody gave a shit what the working classes said or did anyway. [/QUOTE] I don’t know why you’ve used past tense in that statement - they \*still \*don’t give a shit.