AIBU to ask which is the most neutral term dinner, supper or tea?

[ConfusedWife1234]

AIBU to ask which the most neutral term for dinner/supper/tea is? I am not a native speaker and I have been told that your usage of the word says a lot about ethnic ancestry, social class, if your are from the UK, US or another English speaking country, part of the country and so on. Which is the most neutral term and when do I use which one?

Confused by your use of the word 'neutral' in this context - none of those terms are particularly provocative, they're just likely to be used more or less in different parts of the UK.

Must be nearly time for tea now, having already had breakfast and lunch. LOL.

Munchy snack before bed is supper for the elites, or so I am told.

Honestly the Raj will never be dead as long as we are alive, but thankfully most people are quite intelligent, and call it what it is. Not that it matters either..... Since soon we will have NOTHING apart from tinned toms and tuna and UHT milk anyway.

21stCenturyMrsBennett
Why are you still repeating nonsense at me and ignoring what i said?

For the THIRD time...
I don't believe anyone picks up the nuances of any culture unless they spend a significant amount of time immersed in a culture and would find anyone who claims otherwise to be quite arrogant

Dear me. Anyone would think that 'culture has lots of nuances and you get to know nuances by being part of the culture' was a difficult concept.

The Ivy is a chain restaurant!

Breakfast
Second Breakfast
Elevenses
Luncheon
Afternoon tea
Dinner/ Supper

If it is good enough for Hobbits...

Munchy snack

What fresh hell is this?

How is a 'munchy snack' different from a snack?

Oh Dowager,

I really laughed at that! I must conform to the norms of the pearl clutching brigade right now....

keyboardkate

Hahah no - I define a supper as small, intimate and relaxed, hosted for close friends only and with food cooked by us. A dinner party for me would be a larger, more formal event held in a formal dining room, usually with outside caterers etc. This stems from how I was taught to host.

I'm familliar with the term 'tea' from the early evening meal we had at boarding school, but I'd only use it now to refer to afternoon tea and would refer to the 'typical' evening meal as dinner.

If someone invited me for dinner, I would have to check whether they expected me at 12 o clock lunchtime or 8 in the evening!

Chanel,

Don't forget the candles and the periwinkle tea cups for that intimate supper whatever you do, or you are doomed I tell you!

keyboardkate

Candles and French linen of course, but I save the Wedgwood and F&M tea timer for the appropriate time. I am British after all

Chanel,

I don't know if you ever watched Mrs Bouquet, but I always identified with the neighbour who was terrified of putting a foot wrong with the periwinkle tea set, and in the end usually did. That would be me!

Easy and casual is the way to go, you know plastic cups and cutlery. lol.

British English is weird OP. Outside of Britain, every other country that speaks English uses breakfast, lunch, dinner

keyboardkate

I did - poor lady. Nothing wrong with a bit of plastic though - I couldn't care less about breakages though. In my house, things are bought to be used and enjoyed by everyone, including my guests.

In the USA they just eat on the go and use drive in junk food outlets all day every day. No set times there really apart from breakfast I would think. Even then....

I doubt many of them have a perwinkle tea set at all.

I'm Welsh, we have breakfast, dinner (mid day meal or snack like a sandwich) and tea which is an evening meal. The word supper isn't generally used unless you're posh. In fact the word makes me cringe.

I think McDonalds offers breakfast menus.

BTW when I invite people... lots of people... how is this called. This is always called dinner, right?

This class system with military/clergy/civilians existed in Britain. Really? I was ridiculed by native speakers for thinking so so I started believing that it never existed in the English speaking world.
BTW was the king the head of the military and the head of the church at the same time as in other European countries.

Never use 'supper' for the evening meal. It's for people who think they are better than the rest of us.

I'm looking at you XP and your insufferable mother.

@Troys Mummy How do they call the meals in Welsh language (Cymru?)?

Londoner (now living in the Midlands)

I use all 3 (tea, dinner, supper). For me:

Tea is informal and early evening, eaten in the kitchen - I’ll often ask my (grown up) children what they’d like for tea.

Supper is informal and later evening, usually something simple like soup. If we invite friends for supper they know it’s not going to be fancy.

Dinner is more formal, taken in the dining room and will usually be 3 courses. Although we are using dinner more and more for our standard evening meal.

We only ever use the word pudding for pudding, although we would obviously understand what was meant by dessert/sweet/afters. We can have pudding after any meal (including breakfast ), or even on its own.

I like the sound of munchy snack and will be using it in future

Tea is the final meal.

Hate the word supper!

For the THIRD time...I don't believe anyone picks up the nuances of any culture unless they spend a significant amount of time immersed in a culture and would find anyone who claims otherwise to be quite arrogant

The poster you are haranging was refuting a point made that no forriner could ever possibly understand the british class system. The point you made (3 times!) was that they can, if they spend time there. So you were agreeing with that poster!

Dearie me, you must be scarlet.

BTW was the king the head of the military and the head of the church at the same time as in other European countries

Yes, still is. Queen Liz is the Commander in Chief of the military and the head of the church of England.

I have breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don't know anyone who has tea or supper.

Tea seems to be eaten earlier, which is why supper is then required. But dinner you wouldn't need supper later on.

I would say pudding or dessert. I've never called it 'sweet' or 'afters' but would consider all of these the same thing.

I would say dinner is the most neutral. I think someone else already pointed out that in a hotel or restaurant you would have the 'dinner menu'.

Having said that, I would have no trouble unsterstanding anyone who used any of the other terms for meals.

BTW what does munchy mean? Like in: munchy snack