There are terms that cause problems beyond what is necessary in English. I love them.
One of them is the difference between Dinner and Supper. I found a wealth of hits on google about which is which. And the main differences are basically regional.
I lived all over but spent most of my years on the East Coast. So in my family it was always breakfast, lunch and dinner. Supper was reserved for those times when dinner just didn't do the trick and a later evening meal was required. To eat a late Supper was generally frowned upon. Due to it being somewhat decadent and non-practical because that would mean more dirty dishes to clean. We didn't do supper that often at my home. Later on, due to the influence of restaurants, the word brunch came into use. That was just a mating between breakfast and lunch. Usually this meal was accompanied by some alcoholic beverage. Also dinner could be used in lieu of lunch if the meal was earlier in the day. That usually occurred on holidays when the meal was served around 3/4pm rather than the usual 6/7pm.
Now on other sites, I've learned that some people experienced breakfast, dinner and supper. The concepts are still the same even if the names were changed. Dinner is served earlier in the day while Supper is still considered a snack type meal later in the evening. I've noticed that more people from the midwest and a smattering in the south used the breakfast, dinner and supper terms. I'm not so sure that is the case now.
Right now in NY, dinner and supper are used interchangeably and are not considered different. Which wasn't the case when I was a child. I sense that supper will eventually fall out of usage altogether in the near future.Labels: culture, english, food, funny, terms