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I mostly say "dinner" but there are certain times it has to be "supper", like a "spaghetti supper" or, churches have "supper", or some sort of community supper.
Once in a blue moon I might use the term "supper" but a noontime, big meal, like a holiday meal, would NEVER be a "supper", that would have to be a "dinner".
What, exactly, makes it a dinner or supper? The time of day? The food served? I have a meal somewhere between 4 and 6 p.m., and it's the only meal I eat all day. It might be soup and sandwiches, might be cereal, might be a meat dish. It's still the only meal I eat all day, and I work all night long on a full stomach. Then I'm usually in bed by 8 a.m. and wake up sometime in the afternoon.
Is calling lunch, dinner, and dinner, supper just a Southern thing? I know my grandparents used to tell me, that back in the day, people refered to these as such. I'm thinking maybe it had to do with farmers and them having a large lunch(dinner) and then eating less in the evening(supper).....maby I'm way off base
Yes, it's more a rural/urban thing. Farmers that worked their own land, and their hired hands, came in at midday and had dinner, the main meal of the day. Then there was supper in the evening.
But city people with a long commute couldn't get home at midday, so they would have a smaller meal for lunch, and then their main meal in the evening. since it was considered important for the family to have that main meal together, sitting at a table, with no TV on.
Generally, in all parts of the country, the biggest meal of the day is called dinner, and the other one is called either lunch or supper, depending on what time of day it was. In Canada, the secondary meal is still called "Tea" by old-timers.
Yes, it's more a rural/urban thing. Farmers that worked their own land, and their hired hands, came in at midday and had dinner, the main meal of the day. Then there was supper in the evening.
But city people with a long commute couldn't get home at midday, so they would have a smaller meal for lunch, and then their main meal in the evening. since it was considered important for the family to have that main meal together, sitting at a table, with no TV on.
Generally, in all parts of the country, the biggest meal of the day is called dinner, and the other one is called either lunch or supper, depending on what time of day it was. In Canada, the secondary meal is still called "Tea" by old-timers.
Breakfast has always been breakfast to me. Lunch is lunch maybe a formal lunch would be called dinner. But, I've always called late meal 5 or 6 Pm Supper or dinner. Lived in south Texas all my life...
I don't think there is one definitive answer. I've lived in the south, the midwest, the northeast, and England, and never heard lunch referred to as "dinner". I've lived both on farms, and in cities. I never knew of a farmer to come home in the middle of the day for the "largest meal/dinner", that's a new one on me. My farmer relatives always had a small lunch, often taking a bagged lunch with them to eat on the fields. Sometimes, as a child it was my job to bring their lunch to them.
Also, the older generations in the south, midwest, and northeast often called the evening meal "supper". When I lived in England I often heard the evening meal described as "supper", too. No matter where I lived, breakfast was always breakfast, and lunch was lunch. I don't think it's always a farm/rural/regional thing, it can also be a generational thing. It can also be a social class issue. Or a cultural issue, being America, we have a lot of different cultures thrown into the mix. So I think you will get a lot of differing answers.
I don't think there is one definitive answer. I've lived in the south, the midwest, the northeast, and England, and never heard lunch referred to as "dinner". I've lived both on farms, and in cities. I never knew of a farmer to come home in the middle of the day for the "largest meal/dinner", that's a new one on me. My farmer relatives always had a small lunch, often taking a bagged lunch with them to eat on the fields. Sometimes, as a child it was my job to bring their lunch to them.
Also, the older generations in the south, midwest, and northeast often called the evening meal "supper". When I lived in England I often heard the evening meal described as "supper", too. No matter where I lived, breakfast was always breakfast, and lunch was lunch. I don't think it's always a farm/rural/regional thing, it can also be a generational thing. It can also be a social class issue. Or a cultural issue, being America, we have a lot of different cultures thrown into the mix. So I think you will get a lot of differing answers.
Yeah, I got this info from my grandparents and great grandparents who used to have and work a cotton farm outside of Fort Worth, Texas. This is how it used to be around these parts(I was thinking maybe more of a Southern thing in that I never had heard this from folks up North)
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Is it just a Southern Thing?
