Dinner or Supper?

[Mom in High Heels]

What do you call the last meal of the day? I call it the last meal because in the US, it's generally the largest meal of the day, but in much of Europe, the largest meal often comes midday. So, what do you call it?

[Melissa in Australia]

Other, tea. And I go to the front door, ring the bell and yell tea time.

[Grover]

We have breakfast, lunch and tea. DH sometimes call it dinner. Supper is what I call a sneaky choc biscuit and hot chocolate before I go to bed.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Growing up we ate breakfast, dinner and supper. I've taken to calling the middle meal lunch but I still call the last meal supper.

[bettyandbob]

we eat lunch then dinner at my house. Often lunch is bigger than dinner though.

 

One my grandmother's farm it was breakfast-dinner-supper.

[creekland]

Breakfast, lunch, and supper here. I've never actually heard it called anything else when put in order above.

 

Dinner is the largest meal of the day as long as that is lunch or supper. Many people go home from church to their dinner (lunch), but also come home from workdays to their dinner (supper).

[Pamela H in Texas]

I call it both dinner and supper. I grew up calling it dinner but at some point decided I liked supper better. But I call it both.

[Shannon in TN]

breakfast, lunch, dinner

 

so dinner

 

 

 

:iagree: although my dad always has to ask for clarification when I say "dinner" instead of "supper".

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I mostly call it dinner, but occasionally say supper.

[ChristusG]

I call it dinner. But I grew up calling it supper...my parents still do.

[VaKim]

Grew up with breakfast, dinner, and supper. Now it is breakfast, lunch, and supper. Dinner is something you "go out to." :)

[hsmom]

What do you call the last meal of the day? I call it the last meal because in the US, it's generally the largest meal of the day, but in much of Europe, the largest meal often comes midday. So, what do you call it?

 

 

Off topic, but since the largest meal comes midday there I wonder if the obesity rate is as high as ours.

 

I mean since we tend to eat the largest meal of our day at the most inactive time of our day that has to account for something right?

[AHASRADA]

We have breakfast, lunch and supper. My grandparents called lunch "dinner", though.

 

For me, "dinner" signifies a larger, more formal meal, whether at mid-day or evening. We have Thanksgiving dinner at 1pm, some families gather for a Sunday family dinner at that time, and we go out to dinner in a restaurant in the evening.

 

So, breakfast, lunch and supper happen every day, and dinner on special occasions.

 

BTW, our lunch and supper are the same size, since I always cook double at supper, saving the leftovers for the next day's lunch :).

[Melissa B]

Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner

 

We call it dinner unless we are combining lunch and dinner (which I love to do :D) then we call it Lunner and have a light snack later in the evening.

[yucabird]

breakfast-dinner-supper

 

Dinner is the main meal (for us mid-day when our family eats together).

[Cindy in C-ville]

Both. They are interchangeable in our household for the last meal of the day. So ... I voted "other." :)

[LaxMom]

Supper. Breakfast-lunch-supper. Supper may be light or also be the dinner, but that's too hair-splitty for me to think about.

 

Exceptions: Sunday/Christmas/other feast type celebration has dinner. Always. Huh... it also seems dinner is closely associated with brunch in my mind, e.g. Sunday brunch (late morning) covers breakfast and lunch, but is then followed by an early dinner, which spans the lunch-supper gap.

[Upward Journey]

Breakfast, lunch, and supper here. I've never actually heard it called anything else when put in order above.

 

Dinner is the largest meal of the day as long as that is lunch or supper. Many people go home from church to their dinner (lunch), but also come home from workdays to their dinner (supper).

 

This how we use them as well.

[lailasmum]

Dinner or tea are interchangable, the main meal we eat in the evening. I tend to think of dinner being more formal though. Supper is a bedtime snack a milky drink and something small.

[Lady Florida.]

Both. Growing up it was breakfast, lunch, and supper. Dinner was a big Sunday or holiday meal in the middle of the day. When my family moved to Florida everyone we met here called it dinner, so eventually that's what I ended up calling it. Supper occasionally slips out though.

[Laura Corin]

Britain has lots of regional variations, plus children's evening meal, eaten early, is called 'tea'.

 

Laura

[coffeegal]

Both. :D If I want to be clear I'll use supper instead of dinner because I'm very aware that some call lunch dinner. :001_smile:

[jewellsmommy]

I just don't care for the word supper. I could type it, but I don't like to actually say it. It's like not liking the texture of a food. I know, kind of weird of me :tongue_smilie:. I much prefer to say dinner.

 

 

ETA: THis is made more complicated for me by the fact that we call communion Lord's Supper. But, if I said Lord's Dinner, whew, I would get some funny looks.

Edited July 21, 2011 by jewellsmommy

[vonfirmath]

I call it both dinner and supper. I grew up calling it dinner but at some point decided I liked supper better. But I call it both.

 

Both here too.

[ereks mom]

For us, the midday meal is "lunch" and the evening meal is "supper". "Dinner" is a special meal, usually served on a holiday or celebration day, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, someone's birthday, or Sunday after church. Lunch is usually lighter than supper; lunch would be something quick to fix: sandwiches, hot dogs, nachos, etc.., while supper would involve more preparation and might even include a dessert. Dinner would be a lot like supper, but much more elaborate, and usually includes fancier foods that we don't get very often.

 

Here in the Deep South, most people refer to meals this way, except people who have transplanted from elsewhere (they usually say "lunch & dinner") and older people, including my mom (they usually say "dinner & supper").

[ereks mom]

Growing up we ate breakfast, dinner and supper. I've taken to calling the middle meal lunch but I still call the last meal supper.

 

:iagree:

[Lady Florida.]

 

Here in the Deep South, most people refer to meals this way, except people who have transplanted from elsewhere (they usually say "lunch & dinner") and older people, including my mom (they usually say "dinner & supper").

 

Dh's family is from the Cumberland Gap area of Tennessee, and they say lunch and dinner. His grandmother said dinner and supper, but from his parents generation on down, dinner is the last and biggest meal of the day.

[Wabi Sabi]

We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't think my children have ever even heard the word "supper" and would have no idea what you meant if you asked what they wanted for supper, LOL.

 

Also, for some reason I can't explain, I really dislike the word "supper." Makes me cringe.

[catz]

We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't think my children have ever even heard the word "supper" and would have no idea what you meant if you asked what they wanted for supper, LOL.

 

Also, for some reason I can't explain, I really dislike the word "supper." Makes me cringe.

 

:iagree: LOL - me too. I'm not sure what it is. Just sounds like slop being served on a metal tray to me. My in-laws use the word "supper" though.

 

So we're "breakfast, lunch, dinner" here. :D

[JennyD]

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've almost never heard anything else.

 

After reading the Little House books, though, my 6yo sometimes finds it entertaining to call lunch "dinner" and dinner "supper."

[Maus]

I wonder how they manage to eat their main meal in the middle of the day. Do people do that at work and in school? It would seem to me that this is less common than in the past.

Traditionally, they took two hours off at lunch. They'd start work earlier than we would, like at 8:00; get off for lunch for two hours at 12:00; work again from 2:00 - 6:00. School kids had the same schedule.

 

I understand that that's starting to disappear now, and their days are more like ours.

 

____

I grew up calling the meals 'breakfast,' 'lunch,' and 'dinner' or 'supper' (fairly interchangeably). Except on Sunday, Christmas, and Thanksgiving, when 'dinner' was at lunchtime. So did DH, so we still do today.

[SnowWhite]

Dh's grandfather says a "lunch" is something you pack and take with you in a lunchbox, all the while wishing you could sit down to the "dinner table" instead. Then supper comes in the evening.

 

The Amish families in my neighborhood growing up packed "dinner buckets" instead of lunchboxes, so maybe they were onto something. ;-)

[Remudamom]

Come evenin' it's suppa time.

[Lolly]

Depends. We use breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper. Dinner can be the midday meal or the last meal of the day. Dinner is the largest/main meal of the day. Some days we have the largest meal midday; then it is breakfast, dinner, supper. Some days we have the largest meal last; then it is breakfast, lunch, dinner. Or course, sometimes we just say breakfast, lunch, supper. Guess on those days we don't have a large meal!!!:D:lol:

[chicagoshannon]

Supper is the last meal of the day. Dinner is a large lunch like we used to have on Sunday after church when I was a kid. (I don't make Dinner)

[Just Robyn]

I grew up saying supper, but at some point I started saying dinner.

[silliness7]

I voted other because we use both terms interchangeabley.

What's for dinner?

It's time for supper!

There is no rhyme or reason to it. :001_smile:

[Caitilin]

I voted other because we use both terms interchangeabley.

What's for dinner?

It's time for supper!

There is no rhyme or reason to it. :001_smile:

 

:iagree: exactly how it is here too.:lol:

[Lady Florida.]

I grew up saying supper, but at some point I started saying dinner.

 

That's what happened to me and I think it's because I picked up what those around me were saying. Just like at some point I stopped saying youse and started saying y'all. ;)

[yucabird]

I wonder how they manage to eat their main meal in the middle of the day. Do people do that at work and in school? It would seem to me that this is less common than in the past.

 

We do. My husband is doing research; essentially he is working from home...and that helps. But if he were working outside the home, and logistics allowed, he would probably return for dinner (lunch). However, if I were working outside the home, it would be a different matter as there just wouldn't be enough time to prepare things.

 

Also, none of us enjoy eating supper at the same time, so a large mid-day meal works well for our family.

 

Donna

[dirty ethel rackham]

I grew up with "dinner" but my parents grew up with "supper" (from Northern Wisconsin and UP Michigan.) I think the transition happened after living in the Chicago area.

[OnTheBrink]

I just don't care for the word supper. I could type it, but I don't like to actually say it. It's like not liking the texture of a food. I know, kind of weird of me :tongue_smilie:. I much prefer to say dinner.

 

 

Also, for some reason I can't explain, I really dislike the word "supper." Makes me cringe.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

And, sometimes I'll make a larger meal for lunch and we just call it lunch. When that happens, we call dinner a "snacky dinner" or more simply, "foraging" LOL.

[Excelsior! Academy]

We say dinner for our main meal of the day. Sunday noon is Sunday dinner. Monday - Friday 6pm is dinner time. Saturday is a bit different as the kids ride horses and don't always eat at the same time.

 

I generally don't use supper as it seems less formal to me. We like to make dinner a more formal affair. Not in the sense that we must dress for dinner, but you need to look presentable, use appropriate manners, join the family in a timely manner, etc. If I were to use it it would be interchangeable with dinner. e.g. pancake supper.

 

Here is an interesting wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper

Edited July 21, 2011 by Excelsior! Academy
Fix wrong link

[tammyw]

I just don't care for the word supper. I could type it, but I don't like to actually say it. It's like not liking the texture of a food. I know, kind of weird of me :tongue_smilie:. I much prefer to say dinner.

 

 

There are lots of words like this for me. I just cannot say them. They feel icky in my mouth. Supper is one of them (though I did grow up in Canada with it being referred to as supper). When we visit family in Canada, I hear "what do you want for supper?" all the time. Other words, off the top of my head, I cannot bring myself to say - chesterfield (my mom still uses this one - not sure if it's a Canadian thing, or just her being old, hehe), couch, slacks (ugh), panties (double ugh). I know there are more, but I can't bring them up at the moment. Oh, thought of another - I HATE the word motel, hehe.

Edited July 21, 2011 by tammyw

[~Tara~]

I mostly call it supper.

We have breakfast-lunch-supper here.

 

However, when we go out, I often say that we 'went out for dinner'. I really don't know why or when that developed. :confused:

 

(and the words that feel icky in your mouth...yeah, that's a whole other thread..I can agree on a couple of those mentioned already ;) )

[Mom in High Heels]

I love all the responses!

 

I wonder how they manage to eat their main meal in the middle of the day. Do people do that at work and in school? It would seem to me that this is less common than in the past.

 

Traditionally, they took two hours off at lunch. They'd start work earlier than we would, like at 8:00; get off for lunch for two hours at 12:00; work again from 2:00 - 6:00. School kids had the same schedule.

 

I understand that that's starting to disappear now, and their days are more like ours.

 

 

 

While it is starting to disappear, it's still holding strong in many of the smaller towns. One of the towns the USO takes tours to frequently completely shuts down from 11:30-2, except for the restaurants. At the schools here a lot of the kids get an hour or an hour and a half for lunch, but most of them don't go home, they just eat at school, where they serve a large meal.

 

There are lots of words like this for me. I just cannot say them. They feel icky in my mouth. Supper is one of them (though I did grow up in Canada with it being referred to as supper). When we visit family in Canada, I hear "what do you want for supper?" all the time. Other words, off the top of my head, I cannot bring myself to say - chesterfield (my mom still uses this one - not sure if it's a Canadian thing, or just her being old, hehe), couch, slacks (ugh), panties (double ugh). I know there are more, but I can't bring them up at the moment. Oh, thought of another - I HATE the word motel, hehe.

 

 

Glad I'm not the only one. Supper is just....weird. I dislike all of the words you listed, except for chesterfield, but I don't know what that means. Can you explain?

[YLVD]

Dinner!

 

I've never actually heard anyone say "supper" in real life. I've lived in California and Washington mostly.

 

I admit that I really dislike the word "supper" lol.

[Orthodox6]

Not voting because I don't know what to choose! My unimpeded reflex is to consider "dinner" the midday meal, AKA "lunch." I have a notion, acquired by whatever means, that "dinner" is the historically-used term for this. . . . "Supper" is the evening meal. . . . Nevertheless, many, many people call the evening meal "dinner".

 

My personal practice is to use the words "dinner" and "supper" interchangeably to specify the evening meal. "Lunch" is for the midday meal.

[Orthodox6]

I writhe upon hearing the word "veggie". :ack2: !

 

We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't think my children have ever even heard the word "supper" and would have no idea what you meant if you asked what they wanted for supper, LOL.

 

Also, for some reason I can't explain, I really dislike the word "supper." Makes me cringe.

[tammyw]

I love all the responses!

Glad I'm not the only one. Supper is just....weird. I dislike all of the words you listed, except for chesterfield, but I don't know what that means. Can you explain?

 

Chesterfield = sofa :)