Supper or Dinner? (house, high school, live)

[desert sun]

Which one do you say?

and when you hear supper what do you think of?

and when you hear dinner what do you think of?

to me.... supper sounds old fashioned and someone that lives a country lifestlye or just a small town person would say it

to me.... dinner sounds more sophicticated and more proper and more of a city term, I think of the Housewifes of Orange County hosting a "dinner" party for all their friends

although I do say both words

[WestbankNOLA]

Dinner
When I hear "supper" I think of a 5+ course meal with beacoup silverware and crusty old people with even older money.
When I hear "dinner" I think of the average person eating for the evening.

[pw72]

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, it was always "dinner" for the evening meal, but "supper" could be occasionally used for the evening meal.

However, when my family travelled to Michigan most every summer, "supper" was usually midday.

[20yrsinBranson]

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner


My father, the old Missouri boy, used to say Breakfast. Dinner, Supper. When we invited them over for Dinner we always had to say.... THE EVENING MEAL. Just so he would get it.

I think that in the past often the midday meal was the largest meal of the day, the DINNER. In the evening meal being lighter - possibly of a hearty soup, etc. According to the The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology an alternate Medieval spelling of supper is Souper, indicating perhaps that it was intended to be a lighter meal than the mid-day meal.

This would make sense in an agricultural context when, after a hard days work in the fields you would not want a really heavy meal, whereas, the mid-day meal, designed to give you energy to make it through the rest of the day would be the main DINNER meal.

Or something like that. LOL

20yrsinBranson
blabbing on. LOL

[AZLiam]

I think Rachel Ray says supper.

[David Alleyne]

I say dinner. I just picture some old blue blood type from Savannah somewhere saying "Gentlemen, gentlemen, and ladies...befah suppah, I'd like to offah up a grand toast to all in attendance." Of course dude would have the bow tie and monocle on while addressing the group.

[Smtchll]

I say dinner for the evening meal. But I also hear supper a lot for the evening meal. It's usually used by country people here.

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by Scott Summers

I say dinner. I just picture some old blue blood type from Savannah somewhere saying "Gentlemen, gentlemen, and ladies...befah suppah, I'd like to offah up a grand toast to all in attendance." Of course dude would have the bow tie and monocle on while addressing the group.

Exactly
That's the exact same picture I had.

[David Alleyne]

To me dinner just sounds right. Both of my grandmothers say supper but none of my aunts or uncles use it and my mom always said dinner. I usually ask "Is dinner ready yet?" and the reply will be "Dinner'll be ready in 30 minutes." (dinner'll is dinner will, ran together).

[backdrifter]

Supper makes me think of simple farm or country folk from back east (Midwest or South). Supper is like someone calling a bag a "sack." It just sounds totally antiquated and the people I come across who say "supper" are often antiquated themselves. I have family who grew up in Southern Colorado when it was more down home Plains-y and they call it supper frequently, but also say dinner.

My family from California and all my friends in the Northwest all say dinner. In high school, some of my friends made fun of a mutual friend from Iowa who said "supper" instead of dinner.

Dinner is just the normal term. "I had a take-and-bake pizza for dinner tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to make a Serbian potato bake for dinner." I can also see it as being a big formal event like... "The Ronald McDonald House of Portland is hosting a benefit dinner next Sunday."