The Great Dinner vs Supper Debate

[warlord 73]

Ok here's a little something I have never even thought of and don't know if it's a USA vs England/Canada thing or not. But my one friend up in Canada always asks "what's for supper'? I on the other hand have always heard Dinner for the evening meal.

Now I tried to Wikipedia it and got very confusing things of "well in this instance the noon time meal is called this in this location and in another its' this and refers to the evening one as the one before the last one" etc (my brain hurts).

So just curious what people here call their evening meals (and no not High Tea). Lunch is lunch which is noon time and that's pretty much standard across the North American board I'm sure, but do you call it Dinner or Supper? The only time I recall hearing Supper is from "The Last Supper"...

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Growing up my mom would always call it supper, but I've always referred to it as dinner in my adult life. I just find the word "supper" kind of weird and its too close to "super"... Sometimes dinner really isn't all that super.

[Sprailenes 47]

When I lived in Quebec "Dinner" meant lunch and supper was dinner. It was so confusing!

"what are we having for dinner?"

"We already had dinner!"

"No that was lunch, and soon we have dinner!"

"No, that was dinner and soon we are going to have supper"

So I kind of adapted and now I call it supper and dinner. Whatever I feel like saying. For some reason when I am really hungry it's "supper" I don't know why. Supper just sounds... bigger.

[Sam and Ben 2]

Thinking about it, I guess I use the two interchangeably. Not sure why.

[CdnMN 0]

Here in MN we have a few supper clubs. There are really just restaurants, but mostly only open for dinner.

When I was growing up it was always supper - but that was in a very British household. All my friends called it dinner.

CdnMn

[SapphireDreams 71]

My family always called it dinner.

But, some of my Austrian aunts call it supper... so... who knows!

[Sprailenes 47]

I just call it: FEED MEH.

[NBtoPitt 2]

My family (from the east coast) always used "lunch" and "dinner" interchangeably, and then supper was... well... supper. After I moved around a bit though (Ontario and Alberta) I started using supper and dinner interchangeably instead, and lunch is just lunch. My mother picked up on it when I moved back, and for some reason it seems to bother her that my terminology has changed.

[mike777 0]

Being American, I've heard supper and dinner used interchangeably. In my opinion though, saying dinner has a bit more elegance to it, while I think supper is more a term I associate with farmers.

My wife, whom is Canadian, often uses the term supper though - but shes not a farmer - "but" she was raised in a small town, hmm..

[Kimbear 53]

well for me it has to do with my schooling and my parisian french techer in quebec. in french dinner is diner aka lunch. they call supper le souper. ( prounounce them with eh at the end soupeh lol ) so i've always said dinner and supper. just like breakfeast is Le petit dejeuner. keep in mind the words look weird cuz they are suposed to have accents so you say em a certain way lol.

[NBtoPitt 2]

To add some geekiness to the thread, I believe both words were adopted into English from French after William the Conqueror took control of England in 1066. The English nobility was replaced with French nobility, and so the meals for the upper-class were associated with French, whereas the more Germanic English words were associated with lower-class. This is also reflected in things like animals vs. cuts of meat: when it's an animal and the lower-class, English people were responsible for it, the Old English words remained in use (cow, pig, sheep, etc.) but by the time it made it onto the table and ready to eat, the French influenced words were used (beef = boeuf, ham = jambon, mutton = mouton, etc.).

Anyway, dinner (from diner) meant to dine, and usually meant the late afternoon meal whereas supper (from souper) was usually a late-night meal after a performance that included soup. When those words were brought over to Quebec and Acadia though, diner turned into lunch, and souper turned into dinner, which is why my family associates dinner with lunch and supper with the evening meal. Phew.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Thinking about it, I guess I use the two interchangeably. Not sure why.

I often agree with Sam...and in this there is no exception.

I use both terms interchangeably as well. Of course, now I have an image of Da Vinci's The Last Supper in my head as The Last Dinner, with a bowl of KD in front of Jesus...

[trailmix 77]

I never use the word supper - but of course it is common here and I remember hearing it all the time when I was growing up.

[The_Dude 1,142]

When I lived in Quebec ...

Well, right there is your problem

It's quite confusing in my extended family. My mother's side of the family is Irish and all use dinner, except my old gran. On my father's side of the family, they are Prussian (German) and Spanish. I always associated supper with the midwest and farming as that is where my grandfather's family settled (Fairbury, NE). My grandmother always just said it in spanish and there was never any confussion. None of my friends or family around me when I was a kid ever called it supper.

Now flash forward a number of years. My wife calls it supper. I battled with it, like I did with celcius. But just like the thermometer, I relented.

[trailmix 77]

Well, right there is your problem

It's quite confusing in my extended family. My mother's side of the family is Irish and all use dinner, except my old gran. On my father's side of the family, they are Prussian (German) and Spanish. I always associated supper with the midwest and farming as that is where my grandfather's family settled (Fairbury, NE). My grandmother always just said it in spanish and there was never any confussion. None of my friends or family around me when I was a kid ever called it supper.

Now flash forward a number of years. My wife calls it supper. I battled with it, like I did with celcius. But just like the thermometer, I relented.

Wow, that is where my Great Grandmother and Grandfather lived, Fairbury - my Grandmother was born there (Maternal).