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The board and lodging at the college I attended, provided each day three meals (including packed sandwiches and an apple/orange for those who could not get back for the midday meals). Dinner was once a week on a midday every Sunday. That was really annoying, because one had to rush back on time to don on the black gown and waited in line for the roll call.
Nowadays, main meal is 'brunch", supplemented with a late afternoon tea. Occasionally, our neighbours would bring us a late night supper from a takeout joint. Rarely, do we dine out.
Quote:
https://www.dictionary.com/e/supper-vs-dinner/
In parts of the US, supper and dinner are used interchangeably to refer to the evening meal, but they’re not exactly synonyms.
* Dinner, which dates back to the late 1200s, refers to the main meal of the day—historically, a meal served midday for many peoples.
The term comes from the Middle English diner, which, via French, goes back to a Vulgar Latin word represented as disjejunare, meaning “to break one’s fast.” The verb dine also comes from this root.
* Supper, in terms of word origins, is associated with the evening. It comes from an Old French word souper, meaning “evening meal,” a noun based on a verb meaning “to eat or serve (a meal).” Fun fact: the word soup, also entering English from French, is probably related. The deeper roots of supper, soup, and related words like sup and sop, appear to be from Germanic roots from way back when.
It always threw my off a bit hearing a Newfoundlander friend say “dinner” for the midday meal. In French it’s always been diner but growing up in S Ontario dinner has always been interchangeable with supper as the evening meal, at least in my community. There’s some other things like this, “soft drink” instead of pop or soda is a Montreal thing (maybe just the older generation though). Also “chips” for instead of French fries I believe is the norm in Atlantic Canada although I’ve heard older folks use it in Ontario too. Maybe this is all going by the wayside though with the dominance of American tv
It always threw my off a bit hearing a Newfoundlander friend say “dinner” for the midday meal. In French it’s always been diner but growing up in S Ontario dinner has always been interchangeable with supper as the evening meal, at least in my community. There’s some other things like this, “soft drink” instead of pop or soda is a Montreal thing (maybe just the older generation though). Also “chips” for instead of French fries I believe is the norm in Atlantic Canada although I’ve heard older folks use it in Ontario too. Maybe this is all going by the wayside though with the dominance of American tv
I think most people around here say soft drink, not pop or soda. Mostly if they want a soft drink it's a Coke or Pepsi, both being interchangeable with "coke."
I think most people around here say soft drink, not pop or soda. Mostly if they want a soft drink it's a Coke or Pepsi, both being interchangeable with "coke."
I suppose the proportion varies a bit from region to region, but pop and soft drink seem to be used fairly interchangeably in spoken Canadian English. When written down on a menu though, it's almost always soft drink.
There may be some Canadians who use soda to describe stuff like Coke, Pepsi and Sprite, but to me that's generally a giveaway that someone is American.
Soda to me generally means the person is referring to soda water, but forgot to add the word water in their sentence.
For baked fruit desserts I use the terms cobblers, crisps and crumbles and sometimes tortes depending on the recipe and how the dessert is made, but I never call them betties or grunts.
I know what betties, slumps and grunts are and that those are American given names but I don't know how or why they were given those names.
ETA - Okay, I looked it up and I know now why they have those and other funny names. The sound of the apple pan dowdy appeals to me, I think I'll try the recipe:
For baked fruit desserts I use the terms cobblers, crisps and crumbles and sometimes tortes depending on the recipe and how the dessert is made, but I never call them betties or grunts.
I know what betties, slumps and grunts are and that those are American given names but I don't know how or why they were given those names.
ETA - Okay, I looked it up and I know now why they have those and other funny names. The sound of the apple pan dowdy appeals to me, I think I'll try the recipe:
For baked fruit desserts I use the terms cobblers, crisps and crumbles and sometimes tortes depending on the recipe and how the dessert is made, but I never call them betties or grunts.
I know what betties, slumps and grunts are and that those are American given names but I don't know how or why they were given those names.
ETA - Okay, I looked it up and I know now why they have those and other funny names. The sound of the apple pan dowdy appeals to me, I think I'll try the recipe:
This American never heard until this thread of slumps or grunts. I have heard a referral to something called a Brown Betty but I don't really know what that means. If I were curious enough, I could look it up.
I have also heard of cobblers, crisps, and crumbles. My grandmother made an apple crisp. I thought a torte was more like a cake and in a different category.
In Canada, do you have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or breakfast, dinner, and supper?
That depends on which province you live in.
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