Meal names and times

[ODFOx]

I know it's been done to death but the issue has reared its ugly head again on another thread.
I am a Northerner who went to school in the south ( in case that affects anything).
Dinner is not eaten at a specific time of day. It is the largest/most formal/main meal of the day but can be eaten at any time.
All the other meal names are time dependent:
Breakfast (first meal of the day when you break your overnight fast)
Morning coffee/elevenses (obvious)
Luncheon ( always eaten in the middle of the day)
Tea ( at teatime: may be an afternoon tea and or a high tea)
Supper (last meal of the day eaten mid-late evening.

Not all meals are compulsory and some may be blended (eg Brunch) .

When lunch is the main meal of the day it may be described as dinner (school dinner, Sunday dinner, Christmas dinner). When tea and supper are combined into a main meal then a large evening meal may be described as dinner.

It may not be necessary to call any meal dinner if you choose to label meals based on time of day.

So I think that the divide between those who call their evening meal dinner or tea is less to do with geography and more to do with whether or not their parents had an early evening meal followed by a later snack supper or if they had a big meal and nothing later.

Does that make sense to anyone but me? DH says that I'm overthinking 😀 and that no one cares, but I've been on MN long enough to know that someone cares (apart from me).

Breakfast, lunch and dinner here (in that order). Never had what you call supper, never understood why more food is needed after eating an evening meal.
I'm East Anglia.

Breakfast, dinner, tea, supper. Northerner.

The morning meal is breakfast, although I rarely have it.
Hate the word “brunch”. If I was eating about 11am - later than typical breakfast time - it would still be breakfast.

middle of the day meal is lunch, dinner or sometimes “first dinner” (sorry!)

evening meal is either tea, dinner or “second dinner”

I might live in the south east but clearly I’m a philistine!

ETA - I detest the word “supper”, much more so than “brunch”.

Breakfast lunch and tea

Breakfast 🥞
Lunch 🥗
A cup of tea ☕️
Dinner 🥘

Yes it's pretty fluid here what we call meals.
Breakfast - first food of the day, unless you lie in past 12 and skip it altogether and go straight to lunch..

Meal in the middle of the day - lunch (reasonably light) or dinner(heavier meal) or even snap if it's just a quick butty.

Afternoon tea - little sandwiches, cake + a scone between 12-3ish

High tea - light Meal around 4pm only eaten in 1901 by ladies in hotels

Meal around 5-8pm- tea or dinner depending on mood

Light snack in the evening - supper

What on earth is a 'high' tea ☕️??

High tea is a light Meal to tide you over, maybe fish fingers will be involved but in a small quantity

No you're wrong!

Tea is different to afternoon tea or high tea.

Tea is just what northerners call dinner. Probably between 5-8, depending on if you have kids/work late etc

We've always called them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I've always understood supper to be a late snack before bed, usually for people who have their dinner early.

Breakfast lunch and tea/dinner

Breakfast, lunch and tea!

Yes, dinner here is the big meal. The other meal is lunch or tea. Sometimes we have lunch and tea, but no dinner!

I've never eaten supper in my life, either as a name for a meal, or as a 4th meal in the day. Tea/dinner is the 3rd and last meal for me. Might have cake mid afternoon, but that would just be 'cake'. Although I feel I should introduce 'tiffin' because I like the word.

Breakfast is self explanatory.

DM used to call a big, late lunch 'Lea' or 'Linner' when I was little as a joke. We would maybe have cereal after that at tea time, which I guess is the closest I've ever had to supper, but it would be called tea.

Breakfast lunch and dinner, with dinner as the main meal.

If I ever have a big lunch I’ll probably have something on toast or a bit of cheese in the evening and I would call that supper instead of dinner. I’d also say supper if I were inviting a friend to eat with us but wanted to be clear it was just going to be a bowl of pasta not a whole song and dance.

Breakfast, lunch and supper here, maybe followed by a snack my dad used to call '9 o' clockers' (he was in the navy).

Same and geographical location. The only difference is that - as a child - the meal at school was ‘school dinner’.

I use breakfast, lunch and tea in the house but would describe meals as dinner if going out to a more formal setting (so not McDonald's) whether at lunch or tea time, or if being served more formally at home eg when we have guests

Breakfast, in the morning. Usually cereal or toast. Or just coffee for me.

Lunch. In the middle of the day. Could be sandwiches and crisps. I usually have salad (low carb for health reasons)

Dinner. In the evening. Typically a cooked meal. Although sometimes we have the cooked meal at lunchtime.

Tea is a drink.

Afternoon tea, posh sandwiches and little cakes. Only eaten for birthdays/ mothers day

Supper. A light snack before bed. Usually toast or cereal when I was growing up.

So the names relate to the times of day it is eaten, rather than what the food is.

Unless it's hot food at school. That's a school dinner.

High tea is what steel or pit workers etc would have as soon as they came in from work, but eaten at the table, hence 'high', then shortened to 'tea', hence the snobbiness around dinner & tea.

Fwiw though, it's
Breakfast
Brunch
Lunch
Afternoon tea
Dinner
Supper

(Londoner).

West Country here.

Breakfast - obvious
Lunch - roughly 12pm to 1pm
Tea - Evening meal roughly 6pm

As a child we'd always have a cooked breakfast of bacon & eggs or sometimes boiled eggs. Lunch was usually sandwiches, soup or maybe a salad. The cooked evening meal was referred to as tea - what's for tea mum! At other times tea meant a cup of tea. We never had supper but my understanding would be a light snack in the late evening.

Scotland.

breakfast
lunch
tea

supper to me is a little snack you have 730pm onwards if you’re hungry.

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Tea is a drink or afternoon tea

Christmas lunch, school lunch, sunday lunch.

Why on earth do people eat supper before bed?
Are they going into hibernation? 😂

Me and DH are both Londoners (one from North London and the other from South). We both say breakfast, lunch and tea.

I'm northern
Breakfast- first meal of the day
Lunch - cold midday meal
Dinner - hot midday meal
Tea - evening meal
Supper - unnecessary snack before bed like tea and toast, probably if you didn't est your tea.

Here's where I think it gets complicated... going out to eat - going somewhere casual like the pub or McDonald's- having out tea out, going to a posh restaurant - going out for dinner.

Anyone else the same?

Breakfast
Lunch
Tea for the children
Supper for adults
Dinner if formal
South East if that makes any difference