# Dinner vs. Supper **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 28, 2000, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095 "2000-11-28T22:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kiwizukini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/41988e/32.png) [@kiwizukini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiwizukini)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/21 "2000-11-29T14:39:38Z")
TAKE AWAY: universal for any meal at any time of day ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/22 "2000-11-29T16:28:23Z")
Oh, don’t get all carried away with Ike’s description—that’s only at the country club where he’s headwaiter (he’s the paunchy guy with the pencil moustache who goes “EEEE-yesss?” when you enter). As for me—another Yankee—we had Dinner at Eight. “Supper” was a word unknown in our parts. I understand it is what the Southerners ate. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/23 "2000-11-29T18:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spritle \* > \*\*…Hence the total hilarity of the tune “Old Dan Tucker”, with lyrics to wit: > > Get out the way for old Dan Tucker; > He’s too late to get his supper. > Supper’s over and dinner is cookin’. > Old Dan Tucker just stands there lookin’…\*\* NOW that makes more sense. When I was teaching elementary school music (back North), all of the music books (teacher edition and smaller copies passed out to students) had the third line as: …Supper’s over and **breakfast’s** a-cookin’… [These are the same books that would change “Oh! Susanna!”'s line from “sun so hot, I froze to death” to “sun so hot, I froze myself”. As (f)R would say, prob’ly a damn Yankee editor".] Eve - is that “EEEE-yesss”, as in “The Great Guildersleeve”? ::chuckle:: ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/24 "2000-11-29T19:59:37Z")
“Dinner” is my word for the evening meal, formal or not. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/25 "2000-11-29T22:33:16Z")
Hey Ike, I thought “luncheon” was considered non-U. And, as Miss Manners points out, “high tea” is a thoroughly plebian affair involving serious food, taken in the early evening by rough-hewn types who have to get up early to milk the cows or go down the mine or something. What you have there is “tea.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/26 "2000-11-30T00:38:51Z")
**Ike** , you don’t fool me for a minute. You’re from Cleveland, so you have no idea what gammon is. Unless you hope it’s really “gamine.” You’re married, so the only way you get that late-night light supper is at Denny’s. And I assume you have to take the brandy and cigars in the garage or back yard, like all the rest of us married guys. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/27 "2000-11-30T04:52:22Z")
The more I read threads like these the more I realize how weird Minnesota truly is… In these parts we’ve a strange breed of restaurant known as a ‘supper club’. ‘Supper’ is the term used for the evening meal. ‘Dinner’, however, is used for any meal at someone’s home that causes them to break out the tablecloths and candles - midday meal at Easter, e.g., or nighttime meal at Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/28 "2000-11-30T05:00:11Z")
**chique/[sub]sandyr[/sub]**, I’m originally from Minnesota, so I have completely given up on knowing WHAT to call any meal after breakfast. Book recommendation: [_How to Talk Minnesotan_](http://www.ubetya.com/store.htm), by Howard Mohr. It has a lovely definition of “a little lunch.” ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/29 "2000-11-30T05:48:27Z")
Was thinking of bringing that up, but why confuse them even more? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/30 "2000-11-30T05:54:59Z")
I think the only freaks who actually eat _supper_ are the same ones who drink _pop_! Who are these people??!!?? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/31 "2000-11-30T07:11:58Z")
The only time “dinner” was used in our family was regarding the Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners. Otherwise; breakfast, lunch and supper. ---
**Author:** ![idiotb0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@idiotb0x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotb0x)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/32 "2000-11-30T10:38:31Z")
I’m sorry but you’re all wrong. Lunch is the midday meal, whilst tea is the evening meal. Hence “Lunchtime” and “Tea-time.” Supper is the snack that you eat before you go to bed. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/33 "2000-11-30T12:15:38Z")
Coming off a farm, the routine was : Breakfast 6:30 Morning smoko @9:30 Lunch @12:00 Afternoon smoko @ 3:00 Tea @7:30 Supper @10:00 Which one of lunch/tea was classed as dinner depended on the season. During summer it’s too hot to have the main meal in the middle of the day. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/34 "2000-11-30T12:48:40Z")
Well, where _ **I** _ grew up, in northern Virginia, I didn’t hear about supper until I read those old Dick and Jane books . . . and after that not until I heard my neighbor (not raised in this country) calling to her daughter “Grace, it’s time for supper”. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. And snacking in between. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/35 "2000-11-30T17:34:24Z")
“Dinner” at mid-day is a Southern thing, mostly. It dates from the time when the majority of people lived and worked on farms. Everyone, got up before daybreak, had a huge breakfast, and then went to work in the fields in the cool of the morning. Those of us who have worked in the fields in the South know that it is suicidal to try to work in the noon/early afternoon heat. Thus it became the custom to come to the house during the heat of the day, have a big meal, and then nap or lounge (with fan in hand) during the scorching afternoons. In the late afternoon to early evening hours, when things cooled down, everyone went back out into the fields for more work. “Supper” was eaten in the evening, and usually consisted of leftovers from the mid-day meal, with perhaps some freshly-baked cornbread. As the dictionary definition suggests, “dinner,” served at mid-day, was the “principal” meal for farm-dwelling Southerners. Now was that just a Southern thing, or was it the same in the farming regions of the Midwest? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/36 "2000-11-30T18:23:50Z")
**spoke-:** Damn, I just wasted twenty minutes websearching for a copy of a Grant Wood painting that I can just SEE every detail of in my head… It was of a farm family and assorted farmworkers sitting down for the big midday meal, and it was called something like “Dinner on the Farm.” Seeing that Wood was an Iowan, I’d say the dinner/supper thing is an urban/rural split, and NOT regional. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/37 "2000-11-30T19:16:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\ ***spoke-:** Damn, I just wasted twenty minutes websearching for a copy of a Grant Wood painting that I can just SEE every detail of in my head… > > It was of a farm family and assorted farmworkers sitting down for the big midday meal, and it was called something like “Dinner on the Farm.” > > Seeing that Wood was an Iowan, I’d say the dinner/supper thing is an urban/rural split, and NOT regional. \*\* Is this it? [http://www.lifestylemanagement.com/lma/books/nov2.htm](http://www.lifestylemanagement.com/lma/books/nov2.htm) (Gosh, how did I do my procrastinating before I had internet access?) ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/38 "2000-11-30T19:18:06Z")
Oops, sorry. Interestingly wrong url. Here’s the one I meant to copy: [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA98/haven/wood/threshers.html](http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA98/haven/wood/threshers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/39 "2000-11-30T19:40:30Z")
That’s the one…you’re the best, **cherie!** Of course, now that I see it, I realize that we have no IDEA what they’re eating or what time of day it is…for all we know, they could be tucking into sashimi and large platters of shelled pistachios. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095/40 "2000-11-30T19:45:17Z")
Oooops, forgot to scroll across; damn, that’s one LONG painting. Okay, the post still holds. The chick in the tan dress is bringing in a big bowl of Wasabi for the workmen to drizzle over their Eel Rolls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dinner-vs-supper/43095.md?page=3)