Do you say dinner or supper for the evening meal? (coffee, vegetables)

[CMichele]

Originally Posted by deckdoc

just going to add in my 2 cents~ when I grew up in the midwest breakfast was morning meal~ dinner was at noon and the largest meal of the day~ supper was evening meal~ lunch was the snacks delivered to the feilds midmorning and midafternoon~ and possibly something like ice cream before bedtime! Never heard of a snack!

After becoming city folk I found that dinner was the evening meal that everyone had in the evening~ lunch is what you ate at noon at work~ and anything you had to pep you between meals was a snack? ~ So who is right? ~ Whoever feeds you!

Pretty much... The cook decides what it is!

I think we can "sqaush" this with one revelation...

Many people equate The South with rural/not city/non-urban. But what is means is Iowa, NB, WI, etc in this instance. I grew up in a very progressive area in the south and it's DINNER.

So this is an urban versus rural issue. Someone said this earlier so I must go back and give credit.

[bjh]

A dinner pail is called that because the midday meal used to be called dinner by most people in the English speaking world.

[AKgirlinCA]

in Alaska and California it goes like this:

lunch-lunch

dinner-dinner haven't heard it called supper in either place

I think using the word supper is a southern or rural thing as mentioned by other posters.

[Nomadicus]

I here it called both supper and dinner. Don't care what it's called as long as I'm not called late.

[Cindiana]

Growing up in southern Indiana, the three meals were called breakfast, dinner and supper. We lived in a rural area, so maybe it is a rural thing.

[kingdomcome1]

Thank you all for your input

[Dude111]

I say both as they mean the same thing..... I see ppl @ a restaurant for example and i say "Have a good dinner" or "Have a good supper" -- I dunno which is better but they both mean the same right?

[no kudzu]

southern girl here- we used to say dinner for hot meal in the middle of the day like Sunday dinner but supper no matter if it is hot or cold is evening meal.

[Hatetheheat01]

Dinner.

[OpenD]

Traditionally dinner was the biggest meal of the day, and in farming societies that was the noon meal. People doing hard physical work want to refuel mid-day, and dinner was when they did it.

To sup was to eat or drink by taking small mouthfuls, and thus supper was the smaller, lighter meal, in the evening.

Then we all left the farms, the meal sizes flipped, and the terminology flipped, and today those words mostly mean whatever they meant wherever you grew up.