Dinner and supper
are both used to refer to the main meal of the day, and especially to that meal as eaten in the evening. Supper is used especially when the meal is an informal one eaten at home, while dinner tends to be the term chosen when the meal is more formal.
Is it dinner or supper in the South?
Because the Southern and Midwestern states were heavily agricultural,
supper was implicitly
the lighter, late evening meal and dinner was the larger, main meal of the day.
Which comes first supper or dinner?
First, let’s define both terms. Merriam-Webster establishes
dinner
as “the principal meal of the day.” Supper, on the other hand, has three definitions: The evening meal when dinner is taken at mid-day. A light meal served late in the evening.
Is it supper or dinner posher?
Referring to your midday meal as dinner is considered a “working-class hallmark”. Supper: If you call your informal, family evening meal ‘supper’ (pronounced ‘suppah’), you are probably
upper-middle or upper class
. ‘Dinner’ for those same people is used for more formal evening meals.
Why do people call it supper instead of dinner?
Supper, in terms of word origins, is
associated with the evening
. It comes from an Old French word souper, meaning “evening meal,” a noun based on a verb meaning “to eat or serve (a meal).” Fun fact: the word soup, also entering English from French, is probably related.
Is saying supper posh?
Just one in twenty surveyed (5 per cent) called the meal supper, which was later deemed
to be a sign someone is posh
. … It is an alternative to ‘afternoon tea,’ that many began adopting for their main evening meal. Supper has always referred to a lighter evening meal, and comes from the old French word souper.
Why do Northerners call lunch dinner?
When we changed from eating our biggest meal in the afternoon to eating it during the evening, most Northerners retained dinner to mean
the meal eaten during the middle of the day ie at dinnertime and ate their tea at teatime
. So the meal eaten during the middle of the day is always dinner!
What are the 3 meals a day called?
- Breakfast – eaten within an hour or two after a person wakes in the morning. (Index) …
- Lunch – eaten around mid-day, usually between 11 am and 3 pm. In some areas, the name for this meal depends on its content. …
- Dinner – eaten in the evening.
Can dinner be called lunch?
Some people who typically call their midday meal “dinner” would, on a day when they have a light midday meal, call it “lunch” and call their
evening meal
“dinner”.
Which meal of the day is dinner?
In many modern usages, the term dinner refers to
the evening meal
, which is now typically the largest meal of the day in most Western cultures. When this meaning is used, the preceding meals are usually referred to as breakfast, lunch and perhaps a tea.
What do they call lunch in England?
In most of the United Kingdom (namely, the North of England, North and South Wales, the English Midlands, Scotland, and some rural and working class areas of Northern Ireland), people traditionally call their midday meal dinner and their evening meal tea (served around 6 pm), whereas the upper social classes would call …
What time of day is supper?
Dictionary.com defines supper as the
evening meal
or any light evening meal, while dinner is described as “the main meal of the day, eaten in the evening or at midday.” Another dinner definition is “a formal meal in honor of some person or occasion.” That’s why during the holidays, we traditionally call any …
What is the correct order of meals?
Etiquette expert William Hanson, explained all to The Sun Online. He told the publication: “The correct order of meals is
breakfast, lunch or luncheon as it is technically called, and then dinner
.”
Who says supper for dinner?
Regionally it appeared that supper was used
most in the Midwest and the South
. Another of my friends provided this bit of background, “Dinner is considered to be the ‘main’ or largest meal of the day, whether it takes place at noon or in the evening. Supper is more specifically a lighter evening meal.
Why do they call dinner tea in England?
“High” tea
In the past, high tea was an alternative to afternoon tea. … This eventually evolved into the
lower classes
calling their midday meal “dinner” and their evening meal “tea”, while the upper classes called their midday meal “lunch” and referred to the evening meal as “dinner”.
What do they call dinner in Scotland?
They found that 74 per cent of Scots surveyed call their
evening meal dinner
. Only 19 per cent think it should be called tea while six per cent said it should be called supper. The findings set Scots apart from our neighbours in the north of England where the evening meal is often referred to as tea.
