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starman · Jan 27, 2009, 06:03 PM

I can't stand the word "supper" for some reason. Maybe it's a regional thing. Everyone in NY/NJ calls it dinner.

sek929 · Jan 27, 2009, 06:04 PM

I say dinner, supper does sound like something you wouldn't want to associate with food.

Dakar V · Jan 27, 2009, 06:05 PM

It's dinner, you hicks.

Shaddim · Jan 27, 2009, 06:20 PM

It's supper, you heathens.

Chuckit · Jan 27, 2009, 06:22 PM

My brain says "supper," but I usually say "dinner" around people not in my family because there's always one person who has to be like, "Ewww, I can't stand the word supper!" But to me, "dinner" sounds like a big event with a bunch of people in formal attire, which doesn't describe my nightly ritual at all.

Dakar V · Jan 27, 2009, 06:28 PM

Do you guys call lunch dinner, too? Because it's an interesting distinction I've heard from some of the supperers.

Chuckit · Jan 27, 2009, 06:54 PM

Only on Thanksgiving.

Chongo · Jan 27, 2009, 06:55 PM

Like the Denny's ads, do you mean dinner lunch, or dinner supper? I had a childhood friend whose mother call the midday meal dinner and the evening meal supper. I believe she was from the south, 'cause she always told us to stop lallygagging

design219 · Jan 27, 2009, 06:57 PM

I always thought dinner was the largest meal of the day. The noon meal was lunch and the night meal was supper. But either could be dinner.

Big Mac · Jan 27, 2009, 07:03 PM

Morning dinner? Lunch dinner? Unusual naming convention.

One rarely hears of supper in Cali.

Oisín · Jan 27, 2009, 07:06 PM

There’s an “Either” option missing in that poll.

In British English, I’d usually refer to a normal, stay-at-home evening meal as ‘supper’; in American English, I’d call it ‘dinner’ (and since I usually write in British English, I’d tend to write ‘supper’). If it’s more fancy (going to a restaurant or to a function), I’d call it ‘dinner’ in both. I’d never use either of them to refer to lunch.

I do find it rather interesting, though, that ‘dinner’ etymologically means ‘breakfast’, which is just about the only meal no one uses it to refer to.

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Morning dinner? Lunch dinner? Unusual naming convention.

I think he meant that for those who have their largest meal at noon/afternoon time, lunch = dinner; for those who have their largest meal at night, evening meal = dinner.

ghporter · Jan 27, 2009, 07:34 PM

Depends on whom I'm talking to. Some of my relatives have dinner as their noon meal and supper in the evening. Oxford says dinner is "the main meal of the day," which fits with these relatives' habits.

So as with "couch" or "davenport," I think they're both valid and both more likely to be regionally influenced than standardized.

Oisín · Jan 27, 2009, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

So as with "couch" or "davenport," I think they're both valid and both more likely to be regionally influenced than standardized.

Nonsense. One is a piece of furniture for sitting or lying on, the other is a tennis player.

macforray · Jan 27, 2009, 07:41 PM

Growing up on a farm here in NY, dinner was our afternoon meal and supper our evening meal. We did not eat breakfast until after morning chores, usually 9:30 - 10:00, dinner at about 2:30 pm and supper after evening chores, about 7:30 pm.

ghporter · Jan 27, 2009, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by Oisín

Nonsense. One is a piece of furniture for sitting or lying on, the other is a tennis player.

We need an emoticon for a raspberry/Bronx Cheer. And you deserve it, too!

Oisín · Jan 27, 2009, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

We need an emoticon for a raspberry/Bronx Cheer. And you deserve it, too!

Oh goodie. I love it when people cheer at me.

Dakar V · Jan 27, 2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by Chongo

Like the Denny's ads, do you mean dinner lunch, or dinner supper? I had a childhood friend whose mother call the midday meal dinner and the evening meal supper. I believe she was from the south, 'cause she always told us to stop lallygagging

That's exactly what I'm referring to.

zro · Jan 27, 2009, 08:36 PM

I've had dinner for supper and supper for dinner. But I usually say "dinner," but either is fine with me.

Laminar · Jan 27, 2009, 08:52 PM

"Dinner" is ambiguous, so I always say "supper" to cause the least confusion.

Andy8 · Jan 27, 2009, 10:48 PM

Supper is a lighter evening meal, usually taken earlier than normal, preceding say a concert, performance, movie and so on.

hookem2oo7 · Jan 27, 2009, 10:52 PM

I've found that people that have grown up here where I'm currently living (rural NW Texas) refer to the noon-time meal as dinner, and the evening meal as supper. I had always called them lunch and dinner (grew up in Houston and San Antonio), and hadn't heard my "lunch" referred to as dinner until I moved to the Abilene (read "hick country"), TX area.

hyteckit · Jan 27, 2009, 11:01 PM

While I was living in Indiana, most people say "supper" as in "The Last Supper".

Living in Cali, almost everyone says dinner as in "Hey baby, lets go out for dinner so I can wine and dine you."

Let's have a dinner party! Eh.. supper party?

Supper is more like eating at home. Home cook meal.

Jawbone54 · Jan 27, 2009, 11:26 PM

My three meals go breakfast -> lunch -> dinner. I don't hear many people under 40 around here calling the evening meal supper.

My grandpa freaks out if you call the evening meal dinner. "No, no, no! When I grew up, 'dinner' was when the sun was straight above in the sky and 'supper' was what we had when the sun set and we had to come in from working on the farm!"

"Then what is lunch, Gramps?"

"Well, it ain't supper!"

zro · Jan 28, 2009, 01:12 AM

Just tell him how many 90 year old asses you can kick. That'll change his tune.

Jawbone54 · Jan 28, 2009, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by zro

Just tell him how many 90 year old asses you can kick. That'll change his tune.

Never try to intimidate a man who was shot 3 times, each time in a different country...even if he is 87, likes to put his dentures on his great grandsons' stomachs, and spends more time writing Emails than I do.

Doofy · Jan 28, 2009, 03:47 AM

OK, listen up you uneducated colonial pansies.

Here's the correct order: Breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper.

mattyb · Jan 28, 2009, 04:54 AM

^ Subtle as usual Doofy.

Oisín, I would prefer the use of 'English English' instead of British English. Why? Because the Welsh and the Scots cannot speak English properly. Thankyou.

Dinner, comes from the French to dine, diner. Supper comes from souper, to eat soup.

Bit more here.

The last meal that I usually have involves cereal though. Barley, hops, etc etc.

Eriamjh · Jan 28, 2009, 06:47 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Here's the correct order: Breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper.

Only in Hobbiton...

Oisín · Jan 28, 2009, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Oisín, I would prefer the use of 'English English' instead of British English. Why? Because the Welsh and the Scots cannot speak English properly. Thankyou.

Only problem is that ‘English English’ sounds ridiculous. Besides, ‘American English’ is scarcely more homogenous than ‘British English’—there’s a world of difference between an Alabama twang and a Nova Scotia twirl.

Besides, for present purposes, they’re the same, as far as I know. ‘Supper’ is used in the same way in Wales and Scotland as in England, no?

Dinner, comes from the French to dine, diner.

Which again is from disner, from Vulgar Gallo-Latin desjunare, the same word as modern déjeuner, ‘to break the fast’.

mattyb · Jan 28, 2009, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by Oisín

Besides, for present purposes, they’re the same, as far as I know. ‘Supper’ is used in the same way in Wales and Scotland as in England, no?

I don't mix with rifraf, so I wouldn't know.

osiris · Jan 28, 2009, 08:15 AM

Dinner.
Supper is served in the country, with freshly made biscuits and overdeveloped virginal maidens. wait.

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

"Dinner" is ambiguous, so I always say "supper" to cause the least confusion.

Whether that would cause confusion is utterly regional.
and vaginal.

Laminar · Jan 28, 2009, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

Whether that would cause confusion is utterly regional.
and vaginal.

In my region, "dinner" can mean either the noon or evening meal. It's typically the evening meal, but sometimes we have Sunday dinner, which is the noon meal. So I just never say "dinner."
or "vaginal." It sounds so...medical.

OreoCookie · Jan 28, 2009, 08:43 AM

`Let's have dinner together.'
`I hope this is not going to be our last supper …'

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

In my region, "dinner" can mean either the noon or evening meal. It's typically the evening meal, but sometimes we have Sunday dinner, which is the noon meal. So I just never say "dinner."

Man, you sure have a long-winded way of repeating what I just said.
your turn

Laminar · Jan 28, 2009, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

your turn

Too predictable.

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

no white text

Too non-existant.

Railroader · Jan 28, 2009, 09:57 AM

burn.

Jawbone54 · Jan 28, 2009, 11:02 AM

Dinner is name of the main meal of the day.

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 11:07 AM

Save your communist sources for the PL lounge.

Eriamjh · Jan 28, 2009, 11:08 AM

And everyone knows Wikipedia is always right.

Laminar · Jan 28, 2009, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

Save your communist sources for the PL lounge.

With a comment like this, I figured he was quoting something as heinous as Fox News.

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 11:40 AM

I said communist, not hilarious.

olePigeon · Jan 28, 2009, 12:38 PM

My step-mom grew up in Florida. She says they had both dinner and supper. Dinner was a snack after lunch, basically another name for tea time. They had supper in the evening.

Jawbone54 · Jan 28, 2009, 12:55 PM

Dinner is not dinner without real food being involved.

What do you call eating Bold Party Blend Chex Mix at 4:00 AM?

Dakar V · Jan 28, 2009, 12:58 PM

A cry for help?

osiris · Jan 28, 2009, 01:00 PM

He's here all night folks! Next show in one hour.

Oisín · Jan 28, 2009, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

What do you call eating Bold Party Blend Chex Mix at 4:00 AM?

Depends. Is a Bold Party Blend Chex Mix food or a machine?

Jawbone54 · Jan 28, 2009, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

Save your communist sources for the PL lounge.

Jawbone54 · Jan 28, 2009, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

A cry for help?

Fuel for LBP creation.

Originally Posted by Oisín

Depends. Is a Bold Party Blend Chex Mix food or a machine?

It's a Junkie XL remix.