Just checking-if you were planning a weekend with friends at someone's house and I said

[BertrandRussell]

"shall we do a pot luck supper on
Saturday night?" what would you think I meaner?

I’m Scottish and I’d know what it was. I remember pot luck suppers as a child we lived in small remote places when I was small and when parents and neighbours got together it’d be pot luck.
The local church still do it around Christmas they set up the hall nice and the congregation have a pot luck supper. I run the local Cubs we often get lucky and they leave some cake for us.

I'd have known what it was from watching US tv shows but I've never heard anyone in the U.K. use it.

I say 'pot luck supper' when I look in the fridge and cupboards and just make something out of what's available.

Me too.

I’d have suggested that everyone bring a plate of food if that’s what I meant.

I know it from American shows and forums but have never heard it in the U.K.

In the NW of the UK here and it would be a Jacob's Join. DP's Yorkshire colleagues call it a fuddle. He was most confused when they organised one in the office just before Christmas the first year he worked there.

I'm from the NW and have never heard of Jacob's Join. I feel I have missed out.

Now someone has mentioned it, I have seen a function here advertised with an 'American Supper (bring a plate of food enough for you and to share)' so they did add an explanation.

I'd say "Everyone bring a dish if something to share."
A bit long winded!

Everyone bring a component of the meal - starter/ main or 2/ dessert or 4, add things like bread, cheese & biscuits, salad if you've got any non-cooks. Do that with our friends but it's usually x can you make your fab chilli, y can you do your curry etc etc as we've come to realise everyone's specialities so it's no longer very pot luck.

to me it would mean whatever happens to be lying about the house. This could range from spaghetti hoops on toast (likely) to duck with all the trimmings (unlikely)

Wouldn't cross my mind it mean bring a dish

I’m finding this really interesting. To me, a pot luck supper and taking pot luck are two very different things. Pot luck suppers often happen in my bit of SE England as fund raisers for Scouts and so on, so I suppose my local friends are used to it meaning everyone bring a “pot” and extending into non fund raising socializing.

Anyway, the group i’m spending the weekend with are bafflingly excited about the idea....

I'd also be confused, I've only ever heard pot luck referred to as when someone is invited to your home and it means they eat whatever you're cooking, so I'd have to clarify what you meant. I'm also in the south east.

I say 'pot luck supper' when I look in the fridge and cupboards and just make something out of what's available.

I usually call that dinner at my mum's!

Here, "take pot luck" means to pick at random and hope for the best. Usually trivial things, like picking a chocolate without looking at the guide or buying a ticket for the local panto before knowing what it'll be.

It's only used by the older generation though and I've never heard of a pot luck supper outside of American tv dramas.

So I'd have to google it and hope that was right.

I'm NW close to Lancs and never heard of Jacob's Join either. Clearly not mixing in the right circles.

Our school does a pot luck dinner on the last day of every term. It's when they use up all the food left in the fridges and freezers and make whatever they can out of it all. So to me that's what a pot luck meal means.

We call what you are describing as a 'bring a dish' party.

It's an American term, most people would understand, bring & share it's sometimes called but to be honest if it was my house you were visiting I would take it as you don't trust me to cook! A better way of putting it is "can I bring anything,". I prefer my guest to come empty handed or to tell me in advance they are bringing a specific dessert or starter

Wouldn't have a clue what you meant. Would assume you were cooking anything you could find at random.

It's an American term, most people would understand

Clearly not, judging by this thread!

Haven't heard of other phrases either other than something that spells it out like bring a food item.

I think everyone brings something but it's a term I've only ever heard in American films/books,not in real life in Uk

If I wanted to make such an arrangement I'd say "shall we all bring something for dinner?" and make a list

I'd know it meant bring a dish, but only because I have a strange facination with etiquette columns in American papers. I love them

I would know what you mean, but I have lived in the USA & think pot luck suppers are a great idea, I also love safari suppers. Depends if you mix in the sort of circles where sharing the preparation of food is familiar or not,I’ve had years of church ‘bring a plate meals’ and ‘bring and share teas’ as Community fund raisers. (Exciting social life ).

Never heard of pot luck but supper is a small snack before bedtime, in my world anyway.

I would understand it to mean everyone bring a dish of food.

I'd call it a 'bring and share' lunch, though.

I’m from Yorkshire and initially encountered a fuddle when working in a call centre.

I know what a pot luck supper is from watching/reading stuff set in America.

I have never heard of a Jacob’s Join, but have heard of a bring and share supper which is the same as a pot luck supper, but more explicit in its instructions