# What do you call the evening meal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 6, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374 "2015-05-06T10:18:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374/61 "2015-05-08T03:25:12Z")

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> [@gigi](#):
>
> I think it was a Snoopy dance? 🙂 She also did a wonderful goonie bird impression.

[Pretty much.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUQJDQYoBI)

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**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374/62 "2015-05-08T23:04:06Z")

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[quote=“doorhinge, post:57, topic:719374”]

Breakfast  
2nd breakfast  
Elevenses  
Luncheon  
Afternoon tea  
Dinner  
Supper

[/QUOTE]

That is a thru hiker of the Appalachian Trail normal meal plan, though you exclude snack, trail magic and beer if available.

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**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374/63 "2015-05-09T00:43:07Z")

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When I was growing up in rural Louisiana, the evening meal was almost invariably referred to as “supper”. The noon meal was lunch. “Dinner” was used only in reference to meals marking a special occasion–a holiday or someone’s birthday, usually–and was almost always an afternoon or evening meal. On days when we were having “dinner”, breakfast was usually ad hoc and lunch skipped entirely; dinner might be any time from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, depending on circumstances. (If someone got hungry again later in the evening, they would raid the leftovers, but there was never a post-dinner meal.)

I think I’ve gradually transitioned to using “dinner” since I started living in cities, but I can’t actually recall the last time I used _either_ term. For some reason, it just doesn’t come up anymore. Meal discussions are more likely to be about _where_ to eat or “I’m making ”. The latter carries the implication that will be the evening meal, because no one in my circle cooks noon meals.

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**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-the-evening-meal/719374/64 "2015-05-09T21:07:04Z")

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> [@WotNot](#):
>
> It does come from the drink tea, yes. There’s all sorts of fascinating social history associated with it, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, but it generally just means a (usually) light meal in the late afternoon. Depending on your definition of “light”, of course – like dinner, it’s something that some people have tended to define by the time of day, rather than what it consists of.

For a lot of Australia I would disagree with Tea meaning a light meal. Tea is simply the name for the evening meal regardless of other factors.

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