Dinner or Supper – Question #62
ByWhat happens when you tell your dad that you’ll be traveling home for a visit and will be there in time for dinner?
Well, in my case…he would expect my family to show up around noon. But in reality, we wouldn’t show up until 6ish. Oops.
This has certainly been a problem before. I have learned to be very specific about what I mean when I say ”dinner” to my dad who lives in Kansas.
I grew up calling the noon meal dinner and the evening meal supper. When I got married and moved to Nebraska, it seemed that most people called the noon meal lunch and the evening meal dinner. Therefore I defied the loving teaching I had been raised with my entire first 21 years of life and converted to become an evening time dinner eater. Why, I haven’t eaten supper in years. Oh, except for the last time I went to Kansas. I suppose then I had supper several nights in a row.
Maybe it’s a family thing. Maybe it’s regional. But what I want to know today is…
When do you eat dinner? Lunchtime or evening time? Ever showed up to someone’s house for dinner at the wrong part of the day?!
we never eat dinner…It is breakfast, lunch and supper!!
[Reply]
We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as I did growing up. Unless it’s a holiday at my grandmother’s house. Then Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter Dinner starts at around 1pm.
[Reply]
I also grew up with breakfast, lunch and supper. Holiday meals, usually eaten in the mid-afternoon, were called dinner (i.e. Christmas dinner).
[Reply]
I am from Iowa, and my family used breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We could also call it supper, but usually dinner.
[Reply]
We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in our home – in that order. However, my family tree is deeply rooted in the south (and some relatives that moved to Kansas, now that I think of it :) and I recall the supper/dinner dilemma from my childhood. I never really cared much what they called it – I knew there were good things waiting and I was keen to oblige the cooks by cleaning my plate at each meal. My momma raised me right – however, I have learned that if I use a smaller plate I don’t have to feel so guilty these days about finishing it off. That’s just an added bonus for you – you know, not that you asked for dieting tips or anything. :)
[Reply]
In our house, we generally call meals breakfast, lunch, and supper with the biggest meal of the day interchangably being called “dinner”. On Sundays and holidays, that’s generally lunch. Most days dinner and supper are synonymous.
[Reply]
We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner (We live in Mo…right near the Kansas border!) But, I have family that says supper….we always specify a time to avoid confusion!
[Reply]
Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner…. or at times it’s been Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper… but never Dinner for Lunch. :)
[Reply]
For us (both when I was growing up, and now), dinner is the “big meal” of the day. So during the week, when we have the main meal at night, we eat lunch, then dinner. But on Sabbath, we eat “dinner” when we get home from church and a light supper in the evening. On holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving . . .) we tend to eat brunch and then “dinner” around 4pm. So, it’s more the “big meal” than a specific time for us.
[Reply]
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – in south FL when I was a kid, in southern CA where I grew up, and in north TX now.
[Reply]
I grew up in New Brunswick (Canada), and it was always Breakfast, Lunch, Supper for me… “dinner” was used for special occasions sometimes… but it was always at suppertime. When I moved to Ontario (Canada), I discovered that no one there said “supper”, it was always “dinner”. I’ve never heard of dinner being at noontime though…
[Reply]
I grew up in Lincoln and it’s definitely breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now I’m living in Colorado, and it seems to be the same. I do have a lot of midwest friends, though . . .
[Reply]
Dinner in the evenings and we are in KS. My daughter and I just finished the LIttle House series, so we’ve recently had this discussion, as they ate a noon dinner.
[Reply]
I live in Kansas also, but for us lunch is at noon and dinner and/or supper are one and the same. LOL
[Reply]
We have lunch and dinner, although my English grandmother used to call the midday meal dinner and the evening meal ‘tea’. Sometimes I find myself calling the family to the table to ‘tea’ in the evening.
[Reply]
I grew up with breakfast, dinner and supper but once I moved out west at age 13 it was breakfast, lunch and dinner
[Reply]
LOL, we have this same problem in my family. My Ont family calls it dinner and supper but here in BC we call it lunch at noon and dinner is definitely the evening meal. It gets confusing at times for sure :)
[Reply]
I grew up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner; but if we had a big meal at lunchtime, which we did on Sundays, then we called that dinner. So now every time I call our Sunday noon-time meal “dinner” my boys look at me like I sprouted another head. They’ll get it one of these days, though!
[Reply]
We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a kid though…yeah…there was the dinner/supper issue. It didn’t stick though. Lunch is lunch. Period. :)
[Reply]
I live in Georgia and we call our meals Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. But when my in-laws have us over for dinner they tell us to ‘go ahead and dip your plate’ instead of ‘go ahead and make your plate’.
[Reply]
It’s breakfast, lunch, then dinner here in Michigan. Supper is a rarely used word in these parts. You’ll occasionally hear it, but not often. I can imagine it would get quite confusing …
[Reply]
We usually call it breakfast, lunch and dinner. But, I remember my grandpa saying that the noon meal was called dinner and evening meal supper. I also think in my family it depends on what is being served. If it is a big meal at noon then it is dinner. Like we always eat “Christmas dinner” in the middle of the day. A simple meal like sandwiches is lunch.
[Reply]
I grew up in Texas and ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My husband, who’s from Ohio, only calls the noon meal “dinner” when we’re going to his Mom’s for that meal. Strange. :)
[Reply]
Breakfast, lunch, dinner. I grew up all over the South, but now live in Kansas. I haven’t actually heard the supper/dinner debate and we have lived here a little over 5 years now! Huh!
[Reply]
I live in West Texas…transplanted from Upstate NY…
The older generation down here eats breakfast, dinner and supper. My children were quite confused our first several months here when we would eat meals with other families, because they had learned (in NY) to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Shortly after moving here, my 5 year old exclaimed tearfully one night, “I didn’t even have LUNCH today.” I gently explained that she had dinner at her Grannie’s house…at lunch time. Then we went out for supper. Poor thing, she was so confused!
[Reply]
I grew up in Michigan and it was breakfast, lunch and supper, but now I call “supper” dinner for some reason!
[Reply]
In Oregon it has always been breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the college I went to in Kentucky was very serious about it being dinner and supper. The other words that were strange for me were the carts at the grocery store being called a “buggy” and a vacuum cleaner being called a “sweeper.” I thought they must be talking about a broom, and had a hilarious conversation before I figured it out.
[Reply]
This post reminded me of my grandmother. We always called it breakfast, lunch and dinner. She always said breakfast, dinner and supper.
[Reply]
Ooh, I have that debacle when I’m visiting my family, also. I grew up in Florida and my grandparents have breakfast, dinner and supper BUT my parents have breakfast, lunch and supper. THEN when I got married, I changed to what my husband prefers, which is breakfast, lunch and dinner… Confusing much? My kids get incredibly confused when we’re visiting my family!
[Reply]
Like a couple other folks mentioned, it’s breakfast, lunch, and supper for me, unless it’s Sunday (or a holiday), and then the noon meal is dinner… My mom pretty much never uses the word dinner, which seems kinda funny to me seeing as she would have grown up using it the same way as your dad…
One year I had multiple invites for Thanksgiving, and with the “dinner” issue, I wound up double booked for one of them…
[Reply]
Well we eat lunch and supper. If I was invited for dinner I would show up in the evening though:)
[Reply]
My husband is from the South. He grew up saying dinner for lunch and supper for dinner. I grew up in the Northwest. We say lunch for lunch and dinner for dinner. It was extremely difficult when we first got married… especially with his parents. We had to make sure we communicated correctly and then we had to double communicate and MAKE SURE we knew when to show up! Now, I catch myself saying supper all the time, but I never use “dinner” for lunch. Are you confused yet?
[Reply]
I eat dinner in the evening, but here in the South, there are plenty of folks (like some of the older ones) who say dinner for the noon meal. I’m in North Carolina.
[Reply]
Breakfast, lunch, and supper for us. Oh, and lots of snacks. :)
[Reply]
LOL that’s cute. Dinner is around 5:00-6:30 over here. My parents call it supper but lunch is still the noontime meal.
For a few years the word supper irked me for some reason, but then I realized that was silly. But it is still dinner for us!
[Reply]
Danielle Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Yeah the word supper irks me too. It’s just weird to call it that. But it’s normal if that’s all you’ve ever called it.
[Reply]
“Well, we eat lunch and supper. If I was invited for dinner I would show up in the evening though:)”
I agree with this comment…
[Reply]
It’s ALWAYS been breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I’ve lived in PA all my life. But we do eat our biggest meal of the day at lunch (for digestion sake). And we have sandwiches or something light for dinner.
[Reply]
Dinner is at night. Except for Sundays growing up when Mom would make a roast or fried chicken or something else yummy after church, and then it was called “Sunday dinner”, and we’d just eat snacks that night. But, we’ve never said supper in reference to anything…sounds weird to me.
[Reply]
We usually call the noon meal “lunch” and the evening meal “supper”, although we sometimes do call it “dinner”.
But, my dad, too, is one who calls the noon meal “dinner”. So, sometimes, we do have to clarify as to what time dinner will be. ;)
[Reply]
My husband and I had this discussion many times! He grew up with breakfast, lunch and dinner (in the city). I grew up wtih parents who knew it as breakfast, dinner and supper and then moved to an area where it is in transition…some call it breakfast,lunch and dinner and some call it breakfast, dinner and supper! So I would call the noon meal either and the evening meal either. At first my hubby didn’t know what I meant when I asked what he wanted for supper! It will be funny to see what our kids use. I lean towards lunch and supper I think…more confusion!
[Reply]
This is comical…..I have mulled this around in my brain on occasion.
Growing up it was “Breakfast, Dinner, Supper”. But as I grew up and got out on my own, I noticed that sometimes you’d hear “lunch and dinner” or “lunch and supper” or…..
I started saying “lunch and dinner” since that’s the one I heard the most. Now, at 45 years old age, I’ll capitulate between “lunch and dinner” and “lunch and supper” and “dinner and supper”….I’m confused!!!!! lol
[Reply]
I’m in SC. I’ve noticed the older generations call lunch “dinner” and the younger generations refer to supper as “dinner”. And in our house we have lunch and supper, but not dinner. Hmm…I guess we’re all confused in this area.
[Reply]
Looked it up on Wikipedia. Here is what it said:
“Dinner is the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon region and/or social class, it may be the second or third meal of the day.[1] Originally, it referred to the first meal of the day, eaten about noon, and is still occasionally used in this fashion if it refers to a large or main meal.”
[Reply]
We eat dinner after church on Sunday’s. I don’t know why, it’s just always been “Sunday dinner.” But, we have lunch and supper the other six days of the week! Those Southern sayings all have a life of their own.
[Reply]
LOL!! I am a Kansas girl and was raised that it was dinner and supper but at some point it became lunch and supper and sometimes lunch and dinner…Very conflicted childhood:) I am not sure that I even know what we call it now with the kids I think lunch and supper but I may call one of the meals dinner at times:0
[Reply]
I grew up in Michigan and we called it breakfast, lunch, supper. After moving to California I now call supper dinner. When my parents come to visit and refer to dinner as supper my 3 year old son always looks at them like–what are they talking about. Gotta love regional or family differences. :-)
[Reply]
I grew up with breakfast, dinner, and supper. My husband grew up with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. His parents are a great deal older than mine so we just thought it was a generation thing and not a regional one.
[Reply]
i can so relate!!!!! i grew up in iowa, where we had breakfast, dinner and supper!! then i moved to the chicago area, where i met and married my husband and learned to call it breakfast, lunch and dinner. talk about the problems it would cause when we’d tell our iowa relatives that we’d be there for dinner, only to arrive at 5 or 6:00, which was OUR dinner time. we had to apologize MANY times!!
~patty
[Reply]
I grew up with Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in the San Francisco Bay Area. My family moved to Ohio for a couple of years and we had to adjust to the Dinner/Supper confusion because Dinner could mean either the noon or evening meal. Denver, Colorado was a Lunch and Dinner area, but now were back in Ohio so I’m very careful to specify a time for every meal because again, it can go either way!
[Reply]
I had no idea that people used B D S. Dinner for lunch? Sooo strange to me!! as a San Diego native, you’ll only catch me saying B L D !!
Allie
[Reply]