My sister has started calling her evening meal supper ...

[TheFateofOphelia]

She was talking about having friends round for "supper" on Friday. I was puzzled as she knows, and I know, that supper is a piece of toast if you're feeling peckish at bedtime.

Apparently, now she's moved to Surrey she no longer has her dinner between 12 and 1, she has lunch. Now I'm ok with that but AIBU to draw the line at her having supper at tea time?

Surrey born and bred - breakfast, lunch and tea. Supper is a later night snack before bed.

Since when has dinner been between 12 and 1? That is lunch, which you have if you didn't have brunch.
Dinner is at supper time, unless you have early dinner and then tea. But supper if you had a late lunch and want to eat something not quite as big as dinner a bit later.
You are both wrong.

Oh god I was brought up in Surrey and call the evening meal ‘supper’. I’ve noticed people wincing when I say it here in Northamptonshire. How embarrassing, I thought I had shed my Surrey roots 40 years ago!

I grew up in Surrey and don't know a single soul who refers to supper. It's breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tea if it's a small, early meal. Bed time snack if you're hungry later on.

Yes, a Mrs Bouquet candlelit supper.

You don’t have dinner between 12 and 1, you have lunch. Are you Scottish then you’re forgiven . 😀

I've not lived north of the M4. Based on what I announce on Alexa to summon the troops:
Morning - Breakfast
Lunchtime - Lunch
Teatime Tea is a beverage and it must be available at all times of the day
Evening meal - "dinner" if it is a Sunday or it is something fancy, "super" if it has been lingering in the fridge or freezer. A takeway is always "takeaway" or the nationality of whatever we've ordered.

My southern child tells me off if I (his northern mummy) refer to his lunch as dinner 😅 He’s perfectly accepting of tea though 🤷🏻‍♀️

We do in Liverpool 😅

So do we in Sheffield.

Where to start!?

So much wrong with this!

Lounge? 😱

We call Dinner "Supper" too. But only because my dog hears "Dinner" and thinks she has a second meal! (Is fed around 4/5pm ) We eat around 6.30/7pm.

My mother (northern) after 70 years, has started to say breakfast , lunch and dinner. I have given up correcting her to breakfast, dinner and tea. At a push I can accept lunch but tea will always be tea.

In my world:

Lunch is a midday meal
Dinner is 6pm-ish
Supper is toast before bed
Tea is a hot drink made with teabags

We never have supper though

I call the three main meals I eat breakfast, lunch and tea. Supper would be something I would scoff before going to bed if I suddenly felt hungry and thought that having an empty stomach might stop me getting to sleep. If I go out for an evening meal in a resturant I call it dinner but if a friend invites me (or I them) round for an evening meal we call it tea. Guess it is a moveable feast!

Does anyone say 'taking the mick' any more?

There's another thread in this...Hang on....

I’m not sure what dinner is.. at our house we have breakfast, lunch, supper. But when we go out to eat in the evening, it’s dinner. I think supper is lighter and less formal than dinner?

It’s funny how the same word said in a different context arouses different feelings. My friend from a working class background married a man who has become very successful. Apparently he started calling their evening meal supper. I can’t help it - to me it always sounds pretentious. However I was brought using exactly the same word for a biscuit and milky drink before bed and if used in that context it sounds entirely correct and somehow right.

Wasn't it sometimes 'kitchen sups'? It's a way of putting people in their place, you're good enough to be fed but we don't want to use the dining room! In my house if I wanted to use the dining room to dine it would take me hours to shift all the stuff on the table so, kitchen sups/supper it is then!

Does she now have “room for a pony” lol

I agree that settee has morphed quite widely into sofa and I don’t think it’s especially regional. Sofa makes me think more comfortable.

Actually Google says this:

‘There's virtually no difference between a settee and a sofa in modern usage, as both refer to a long, upholstered seat with a back and arms, but sofa is the more popular and standard term, especially in the UK. While the terms are often used interchangeably today, a settee historically referred to a more compact, elegant wooden seat with elaborate carving, and the word is sometimes still associated with older generations or the North of England’

I'm old enough to remember my mum using luncheon vouchers.

🤣🤣🤣

I grew up in London (as did my parents) and have always said breakfast, lunch, supper.
DH (from Surrey) says breakfast, lunch, dinner.
DC use both pretty interchangeably.

I might say “tea time” (though not just “tea”) to refer to crumpets/toast/biscuits/cake and a cup of tea at about 5pm.

I wouldn’t want to eat a big meal at teatime, but there might be sandwiches or something involved if we’d had a big lunch - if so we wouldn’t have any supper later.

I don’t live in London now, and most people around me say dinner or tea for their evening meal. I understand that they use different words to me, but I don’t see why I should change what I say.
It reflects my cultural background, just as what they say reflects theirs. It doesn’t mean I’m trying to be posh, or think I’m super rich, it’s just the word I’ve always used.