Why is the word "lunch" sometimes used in Britain to refer to the evening meal? Shouldn't it be called "dinner

Question

The longman dictionary provides a somewhat confusing explanation about the uses of "lunch" and "dinner".

Answer 1

I don't know where you get your information from, but I have never heard of the evening meal being called Lunch. Lunch is usually between 12:00pm and 2:00pm but there is no set times for this. Dinner is the evening meal usually around 6:00pm to 9:00pm but no hard fast rules over that.

Try this out also:

Breakfast (6:00am - 9:00am approx)
Lunch (12:00pm - 2:00pm approx)
Tea (not the drink) (Usually taken at about 4:00pm)
Dinner (6:00pm - 9:00pm approx)
Supper (around 10:00pm approx usually just before bed time)

Depending on where people are in the UK depends on what they call their meals at varying times. There are no hard fast rules over this and each area of Britain has it own "rules" I live in London and the three meals I have are: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Dinner is usually at the time when all the family can be together Kids out at school Adults out at work (except in some cases one adult looks after the home but there is no rules saying so. It accepted that there are many family groups and that this is one example of that). So after the days jobs and things it is nice to sit down to dinner with your family. I live alone (usually but not at present) but I still sit down to dinner.

I hope that this has shed some light on the ways of our meals in Britain.

Answer 2

I have never ever heard anyone refer to an evening meal as lunch in Britain. An I'm a Brit.

Lunch is the afternoon meal.

Dinner or supper is the evening meal.

Some people have High Tea which is a proper meal, but usually earlier on in the evening (around 5 or 6pm)

Change your dictionary!

Answer 3

Good morning.
I am a Englishman and have travel quite extensively in my life.
I have never heard Dinner called Lunch
You have Breakfast to set you up for the Day
Then you have Eleven's usually a drink and biscuit to carry you to Lunch
Lunch is usually a light meal most people have sandwiches so it doesn't sit heavy through the afternoon.
High Tea then comes next usually Tea and cakes.
Then comes the big one Dinner usually around 7 to 8pm. this is the meal when hopefully the whole family sit down.

Unfortunately in this day and most of that as gone its all take aways ready meals or burgers.

Answer 4

In the UK, the proper order of meals is:
Breakfast
Dinner: (at the same time as an American lunch. Used to be the largest meal of the day, but now is the size of an American lunch)
Supper: (At the same time as an American dinner, used to be the size of an American lunch, now basically the same as American dinner)
Tea: A light snack, usually consumed with tea (hence the name) before retiring to bed.

Tea and supper are now used interchangebly, as either one has been merged into the other or eliminated. The Americanisation of British culture has introduced the lunch.
Lunch was formerly called luncheon, and consumed at the same time as Brunch.

Of course, the crossing of cultures and their respective meal schedule/vocabulary has contributed to some confusion.

Answer 5

Lunch is never used in Britain to refer to the evening meal. It is exclusively reserved for a meal in the early afternoon.

However the word "dinner" can be used for either the early afternoon meal, or the evening meal, depending on which part of Britain you are in. In places where dinner means the early afternoon meal, the evening meal is usually called "tea" or "supper". In places where dinner means the evening meal then early afternoon meal is called "lunch". Even in parts of the country which normally use dinner to mean the early afternoon meal, they would understand lunch as also having this meaning.

Answer 6

Suggest this was an error of the dictionary's compilers.

The Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus,
Say's, and I quote; "lunch is a meal taken in the middle of the day".
Whereas, dinner is the "chief meal of the day".

Answer 7

The evening meal is never referred to as lunch. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or b.fast, lunch and supper, or b.fast, lunch and tea, or b.fast, dinner and supper, or b.fast, dinner and tea! It all depends on which area of the country you come from. Having tea is usually a Northern expression, but is used in the wrong context. I always say b.fast, lunch and dinner.

Answer 8

It's a different Culture, and different cutlures call things differently. Like in some places in Spain thier big meal of the day is Lunch, people even get more time for lunch so that they can be with their families during then. :)

Answer 9

i live in the uk and havent heard of lunch being an evening meal?! maybe dinner or tea or supper but never lunch lunch is at lunch time ie middle of the day

Answer 10

You are referring to 'luncheon' I presume.Since some of us have small meals during the day,then the proper meal of the day takes place when we come home from work,which is why we have 'lunch' in the evening.