Definitely. I grew up in suburban Midwestern U.S. The only people I knew who routinely said “supper” for the evening meal might be described as having a semi-urban lower-middle class or working class background.
If you think most people in DC are rolling out of their offices at 3.30, I invite you to try and drive around the Beltway at 5.30pm. Some may be able to leave that early, but most do not, hence the term conventional.
I dunno - “most = conventional?”
Not saying the majority of folk enjoy flexible schedules, but many do. And my initial response was to a poster saying they “didn’t know anyone” who could get home by 5:30. I was just pointing out my personal experience differed.
And I apologize for misstating hundreds of thousands of employees for my Agency. It is apparently shy of 100k.
There are a lot of people who can do that, and numbers are growing all the time, but by “conventional” I mean what most people have traditionally done. And I don’t want to disparage federal employees, but I am a federal contractor and I can’t remember the last time I saw an 8-hour day. Conventional is 8 or 9 until 5 or 6, or even longer if you are a salaried worker with a demanding schedule. (I have no idea where all these “9-to-5” people are working). When I had young children, day care opened at 7:15 so obviously I couldn’t be at work by 7. After a 45-minute commute I could be in at 8, only if I could get kids out the door on time, and then leave work at 5 on a good day when shit wasn’t hitting the fan.
So I had no hope of even being home by 6 to eat dinner, much less if I had to start cooking it myself at 6.
Sorry for continuing the hijack, but if fed employees have it so good, have you sought a fed job? Or, is it that you perceive other advantages to your employment that makes up for the negatives - including long hours and inability to have dinner early?
I seriously question whether the term “conventional hours” has any meaning in today’s economy. Unfortunately, too many employees are expected to be available far more than the traditional “9 to 5” workday.
I feel like times are a-changing in the nomenclature, at least in the UK, or I just got loads more middle class, as when I grew up, school lunch was ‘school dinners’, and we ate ‘tea’ at 6pm sharp. Now I have lunch and dinner… only occasionally called ‘tea’ if I’m trying to be cute.
Supper though…never. I feel daft even saying it.
Now that we’ve gotten into workday hours…
I think around here, unless you do shift work, “conventional” office work hours tend to be 8-5 or 8-4:30.
Persons of Quality never dine before eight.
Supper may be served around midnight, after an evening at the theatre, concert hall, or opera house. A Welsh rabbit with a claret, perhaps, or something left out on the credenza in hot chafing dishes by the servants, who will have retired at this hour. Or a cold roast fowl, with Champagne.
I would use the word to describe a person who is always asking " 'sup? ". That person is a 'supper.