# What Do You Call the Afternoon and Evening Meals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781 "2010-04-20T19:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/81 "2010-04-24T20:54:00Z")
Hasn’t it grown out of fashion to think in terms of one big meal/day? ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/82 "2010-04-24T21:44:09Z")
“Dinner” and “supper” are interchangeable terms for the evening meal in my experience. I use both. I will call the midday meal “lunch” usually, unless we are having a big holiday meal (like Easter or Thanksgiving) at midday, and then it’s “dinner.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/83 "2010-04-24T22:11:58Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > If anybody _wants_ another full meal just a few hours after Thanksgiving dinner, you’re doing it wrong. Yes, you do have a point there. Also, in my family, we consider the leftover turkey to be full of awesome, and my father is particularly fond of dressing and turkey sandwiches. Roasted turkey from the deli is good, but home roasted turkey is even better. > [@](#): > > It helps that our Thanksgiving dinners don’t have huge crowds. A 15 pound turkey doesn’t take so long to roast that having dinner early in the day is logistically impossible. It also helps if you cook your stuffing outside the turkey, like I do, since that makes the turkey cook faster. I also cook the dressing/stuffing outside of the turkey. I put quartered onions, carrots, and celery inside the turkey (or chicken, if I’m making roast chicken), both cavities. I always make stock with the carcass, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to remove the veggies from the cavities than the dressing. Now I need to find a small turkey and roast it this week. I’m craving roast turkey for some strange reason. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/84 "2010-04-26T15:30:03Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > in my family, we consider the leftover turkey to be full of awesome Is there anybody who doesn’t? > [@](#): > > Now I need to find a small turkey and roast it this week. I’m craving roast turkey for some strange reason. You could do what I do when I want turkey, and it’s not Thanksgiving or another major holiday. I get a turkey half-breast and roast it. If you like dark meat, you could probably find turkey legs, too. A turkey half-breast is a good size for two people, with some left over. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/85 "2010-04-28T11:01:18Z")
> [@wolf-alice](#): > > Winstanley College, what what? Me too. Just down the road from my mum’s house, that. Ever drink in the Tudor? /hijack. Yes, I have, and all my friends still go in there when they’re on the town. I don’t live in Wigan any more, though, and only go back to visit my family. \hijack ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/86 "2010-04-28T11:23:46Z")
The noon meal is always lunch. The evening meal is called dinner or supper with no difference in meaning; dinner is the more frequent usage. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/87 "2010-04-28T12:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > You could do what I do when I want turkey, and it’s not Thanksgiving or another major holiday. I get a turkey half-breast and roast it. If you like dark meat, you could probably find turkey legs, too. A turkey half-breast is a good size for two people, with some left over. I do this sometimes. However, I want the full turkey, and I intend to freeze most of it, in slices. I want the full turkey partly to make turkey stock, too. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781/88 "2010-04-28T12:12:56Z")
Voted “other”: > [@Alessan](#): > > Hebrew is so much simpler - we eat “noon meal” and “evening meal”. This. However, when speaking / reading / writing in English… pretty much > [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > Lunch is always at noon/afternoon > Supper is always in the evening. > Dinner is a main meal, and can been noon or evening. This. If I’m having the day’s “large” meal, I’ll call it dinner no matter when I’m eating (Well, OK, probably not in the morning :).) A smaller meal will be lunch or supper depending on the time (or perhaps a "mid-afternoon snack, or… you get the idea.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-afternoon-and-evening-meals/536781.md?page=4)