Reading the 'what have you eaten today?' thread made me wonder...

Who calls the meal in the middle of the day lunch, and who calls it dinner? And what do you have in the evening?

I was brought up having breakfast, lunch, and dinner (at about 7-8pm) and since moving to Derbyshire my brain has been confused a bit by colleagues and friends who have dinner at midday and tea in the evening (at about 6pm) so that now I tend to say breakfast, dinner, and dinner, although if I spend time with my parents then I quickly fall back to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My auntie has supper in the evening (she's posh though) - a word I don't think I've ever used for a meal (apart from fish suppers, when I lived in Scotland for uni).

What do you call them?

i think its a regional thing...to me its always been:
breakfast (anytime between 6-10am)
dinner (12-2pm)
tea (5-7pm)
supper (8-9.30pm)

What's the difference between your tea and your supper? To my auntie, supper is her main cooked meal, but she doesn't have tea. My colleagues have tea as their main cooked meal, but they don't have supper...

I have breakfast, lunch and tea but if I am going out at night I always say I am going out to dinner!! i don't know why tho

Breakfast
Lunch / Dinner - the two words are completely interchangable.
Tea
Supper

I seem to recall this was discussed sometime before Christmas and some people got quite annoyed that people referred to the midday meal as Dinner, instead of the evening meal. When you think about it, it's a pretty bizarre thing to get annoyed by.

I'm sure it is mostly regional (and also a class thing), and I think it's fascinating.

It doesn't bother me, but it has caused the odd mix up for me, especially when I first moved here, with misunderstandings about agreeing to meet "at dinner time" etc...

Up north it was
breakfast, lunch, tea and supper

Now I'm in London its dinner not tea! To me, supper was always some kind of snack a few hours before bed. Could never go to bed on an empty stomach!

Breakfast, lunch, tea, supper. The OH says that makes me posh. He says that the main evening meal is always dinner, and that supper is a late night snack.

He is wrong.

He is obviously a Londoner in disguise. Or common.

Breakfast
Dinner
Tea
and supper if i am not dieting

This is a regular argument in our house! Hubby is a Londoner and I'm Derbeian!

Breakfast
Dinner
Tea

is my way of saying it.

Hubby's is

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Obviously it is regional, bit like the cob and roll/bap discussion that regularly happens LOL

Breakfast
Dinner
Tea
& supper if you have it, is what you have a wee while before you go to bed.

Tea (ie, dinner to the posh at 5-7pm!) is the main cooked evening meal.
Supper is a small snack before bed with a cup of tea, for example a slice of toast or perhaps a bag of crisps, a peice of cake or a peice of fruit. Maybe even, if feeling extravagant, a yogurt.

Breakfast in the morning.
Lunch between 12 and 2pm
Dinner around 8pm and
Supper later than 9pm.

I've noticed people that call tea "dinner" tend to have it later than those that call it tea.

I couldn't have my tea at 8, I'd be starving

Breakfast: whenever I get up
Dinner: 1200-1400 (if I'm up then! If not I skip dinner and have a snack )
Tea: 1800-1930
Supper: 2200-0100

Breakfast
Lunch...but it was called 'dinner time'.
Tea.

My ex was really posh and he had:

Breakfast, elevensies, lunch, tea at 4 or 5pm and dinner at 8pm. If there was no family dinner...you had supper any time after 8pm. Yes, he did get fat.

My mum tells me working class people in the past had their dinner at teatime because at 5pm after a hard day manual work in pit/factory, they needed food asap after work but could never afford 2 evening meals. So dinner was served at teatime....if that makes sense.

Agreed, this is what I call them as well, with tea being between 3pm and 4pm

For the people that have dinner in the middle of the day - what do you call the box you'd take sandwiches etc to work in?

I'm similar, it's breakfast, dinner and tea but an evening meal out is always dinner.

What were the women who supervised the meal at school called?

Well at my primary school it was 'dynes gegin'... which translates as kitchen ladies.

Snap box

Here's a clue, from Digital Spy itself!!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/xfactor/...-lady-job.html

I was brought up having breakfast, Dinner and tea ..Dad worked for himself, as we had a wallpaper etc shop, and we used to have a cooked dinner at lunch time..

Dinner being the main meal

Now I have my own family, its breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Jo x x

dinner box