User Panel
Posted: 5/4/2024 5:42:16 PM EDT
What’s the difference between dinner and supper?
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Dinner is what important people do.
Supper is what hungry people do. |
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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. An evening social especially for raising funds.
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One involves soup and removing your wooden teeth - cause you're poor.
The other one involves wine and Beef Wellington. |
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This has been an argument with my father for many years, who insists (mainly for the purpose of arguing) that dinner and lunch are synonymous, and that supper is what normal people call dinner.
He is retarded. I am fairly sure he knows this, but he has been absurdly insistent about it for many years. Supper and dinner are fundamentally the same in modern English. It's essentially pop/soda take two and the prevalence of supper is going to increase more so in southern areas. |
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Quoted: What's the difference between dinner and supper? View Quote We always called it dinner. You were a rube if you called it supper. Read somewhere officially dinner is lunch, and supper is last meal of the day. |
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Dinner is formal evening eating.
Supper is common folk last meal of the day. |
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Interchangeable for me growing up in the 70-80s, but now that I think about it, I never use or hear supper anymore.
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It varies by geographical locations and local culture. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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Quoted: Dinner is lunch. Supper is whats for dinner View Quote I’ve spent my entire life in WI, (I don’t count the unfortunate years spent working in NC, MS and AL, or overseas) yet I’ve never heard a midday meal known as lunch referred to as dinner. Dinner equals supper in reference to the time of day when it is consumed. That is, in the late afternoon or early evening. Dinner may also be used when speaking of a more formal meal rather than an informal dining affair. |
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Dinner is the evening meal, supper is dinner east of the Rockies.
Or something. |
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Quoted: I’ve spent my entire life in WI, (I don’t count the unfortunate years spent working in NC, MS and AL, or overseas) yet I’ve never heard a midday meal known as lunch referred to as dinner. Dinner equals supper in reference to the time of day when it is consumed. That is, in the late afternoon or early evening. Dinner may also be used when speaking of a more formal meal rather than an informal dining affair. View Quote Geez, I wonder if anybody can figure out what the problem is here. Anybody? |
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Not that anyone will believe their eyes, but in the 1940's it broke down like this. Has nothing to do with rich or poor, northern or southern. It's just the way our language changes.
Attached File |
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Growing up we had lunch around noon time as the every day meal, except on Sundays or special events when the noon time meal was dinner. The evening meal was always supper.
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Quoted: Back in the early ‘80’s I worked for an old guy here in the south that called it that. Confused the shit out of me. View Quote My parents did that too. Dinner was lunch, supper was the evening meal. They were both born and raised in the Deep South. Funny thing is all us kids called lunch ‘lunch’ and the evening meal was alternately dinner or supper. My guess is school had a lunch room that served lunch and we picked up the habit there. However, my mom would ask what I wanted her to pack for lunch during the week, but would ask what I wanted for dinner (noon meal) on weekends. |
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The Last Supper.
That should be a hint. Its the last meal you eat before break fast in the morning. I don't think I really even use the word "dinner" We have breakfast , lunch and supper around here. |
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Come to think of it, early on it was always dinner around noon time and supper for the evening meal. It wasn't until my teens that mom started calling the noon time meal lunch during the weekdays. Sunday always stayed Sunday dinner for the noon time meal. The evening meal was always supper. Mom's family was from Sharp's Chapel, Tennessee. Dad was former Navy and it was always dinner and supper to him, as the post below states.
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According to the Navy dinner was the noon meal and supper was the evening meal.
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Quoted: Geez, I wonder if anybody can figure out what the problem is here. Anybody? View Quote I’ll add Texas to the list of places I’ve spent a forgettable amount of time in too. But you are correct in pointing out the flaw in my statement. I should have said, I grew up in WI. And I return there regularly. The only continents I’ve not spent a fair amount of time in is Australia and Antarctica. I’d like to go to both of those places eventually. |
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Quoted: I’ll add Texas to the list of places I’ve spent a forgettable amount of time in too. But you are correct in pointing out the flaw in my statement. I should have said, I grew up in WI. And I return there regularly. The only continents I’ve not spent a fair amount of time in is Australia and Antarctica. I’d like to go to both of those places eventually. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Geez, I wonder if anybody can figure out what the problem is here. Anybody? I’ll add Texas to the list of places I’ve spent a forgettable amount of time in too. But you are correct in pointing out the flaw in my statement. I should have said, I grew up in WI. And I return there regularly. The only continents I’ve not spent a fair amount of time in is Australia and Antarctica. I’d like to go to both of those places eventually. Australia would be interesting, Antarctica, not so much for me. But, it's good to have a bucket list, so make it happen. |
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Dinner is the mid day meal supper is the night time meal. Typically you invite company or guests for supper. You feed your workers or farm hands dinner.
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