Dinner or Supper? I hear people all the time say both when referring to the same meal .?

Question

Is one or both the correct term. I say dinner , my mom and dad call it supper and they even sometimes refer to lunch as dinner, lol. So why do we have these 2 different terms for the evening meal?

Answer 1

Great question! I asked a similar question of a colleague recently, and she just happens to be an expert on dialects of American English.

Dinner is always the name of the main meal, no matter what time of day. Supper is the name of the evening meal. In rural areas, where the noon meal is the main meal, that meal is often called dinner. In urban areas, where the evening meal is the main meal, both "dinner" and "supper" refer to the same meal.

This caused problems for some people I know in a small U.S. town several years ago. Some friends of theirs invited them to meet them at a fast-food restaurant for dinner. My friends showed up at the restaurant at 5:00; unfortunately, their hosts had been there at noon.

So my guess is that you live in an area where the evening meal is the main meal, so both "dinner" and "supper" can be used to talk about that meal.

Bon Appetit!

Answer 2

I would think that it depends on what side of the Mason-Dixon line you were born. ROFL. Here's an excerpt from the article, to which you may link up with.

"Here is the qualifier:
In households with a cook or servant, Dinner was usually the evening meal, and was enjoyed at the end of the day. The householders considered it the duty of the cook to keep the fires burning, the stove going, and to prepare three hot meals a day. Supper, the lighter meal, was usually eaten in the afternoon.

In households where the wife cooked, Dinner was often eaten in the middle of the day, and Supper was the evening meal. The reason for this practice was practicality."

I sincerely hope that this helps you.

Answer 3

in casual terms its Breakfast Lunch and Supper

In casual terms Dinner is the largest meal of the day
so which ever Lunch or Supper is your largest meal that is your dinner.

In more Formal terms Dinner is the elaborate meal set at a table that everyone dresses up fancy for.

(this is why Thanksgiving is a dinner even when served at noon before the football game starts)

Answer 4

I think of the "official" names for the meals as breakfast, lunch, and supper. I think of "dinner" as a term referring simply to a meal, which I guess you could use for breakfast, but that isn't the societal norm.

Answer 5

there is, in the US, no distinction, and I'm not sure that the UK distinction is held to all that much anymore -- supper being at night, a smaller meal, and dinner being a mid afternoon, larger meal.

Answer 6

I am from Ohio, and I call it dinner. My husband is from New York, and he calls it supper. I think supper sounds old fashioned. I guess it just depends where your from...

Answer 7

Just call it dupper