What do you call your meal times?????

[VoluptuaGoodshag]

My DH insists on calling the meal we have in the evening tea. Fine by me but I've always referred to it as dinner.

So here are my definitions of mealtimes in the order of the day

Breakfast - obvious
Lunch - again obvious I'd have thought
Dinner - the main meal anytime after 5pm
Supper - a bit of toast watching the news

Variations
Tea - a cup of tea or an early main meal consisting of one course with lots of bread and cakes
Brunch - when you get up too late for normal breakfast time and are too early for lunch.

I know dinner time is sometimes referred to as lunchtime i.e. dinner ladies at school but again I'd have thought this was a throw back to when it was probably the main meal of the day.

Firstly, nice name!

Breakfast - as below..
Dinner - mid-day meal
Tea - Evening meal...

...supper a before bed

Breakfast
Lunch
Tea
Supper - usually cereal before bed if required.

There was a thread last week about class and I suggested that calling your evening meal Dinner was an indication of being middle class. There was much discussion!

This 'tea' thing is a really interesting UK phenomenon. Where I come from its a cup and saucer with warm milky drink made with boiling water and leaves picked in a far eastern country. Drunk anytime of the day with or without food Good luck with the debate, I will check again after my supper at 7pm......

b'fast
lunch
supper/dinner

I am very mixed up in how I do this.

Breakfast - obviously
lunch - midday meal
dinner - main meal of the day
tea - this is the one that really gets muddled up - is always the meal at about 5-6pm but can also be a light meal at that time (eg beans on toast) because a main meal at this time would be dinner - but may be at tea time (see I am really confused !).

So lunch is the middle of the day but may be dinner, dinner is usually at tea time (but sometimes I call it dinner time !).

Same as voluptua here!If we eat early say 6ish it is tea and if it is normal time ie 7 onwards it is dinner.Weird!

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner/supper

breakfast
lunch/dinner
tea

Breakfast
Lunch
Supper

The word "dinner" makes me . But that's probably my middle class credentials coming out.

Breakfast
Elevenses
Snack
Lunch
Snack
Dinner
Cupboard raid
Supper
Midnight Munchies

[pregnant]

lol at SoH!

Breakfast
Lunch
The DC have tea as it is before 6pm
DH and I have dinner as it is after 6.

In an etiquette book I got for Christmas it said that supper is only referred to as a meal you have before (or maybe after...will have to check) going to the theatre!!

"Breakfast" or "Brekkie": your morning meal
Brunch: a mid-morning meal that's like a second breakfast!
"Lunch" or "Dinner": the meal in the middle of the day
"Tea" (often followed by "pudding"): what you eat early evening
"Supper": last snack of the day before you go to bed. If coupled with an alcoholic drink I'd call it a "night cap".

I think that possibly calling tea "dinner" is a location thing rather than a class thing? Everyone I know who calls it "dinner" is from London or nearby.

Lol SOH I like the idea of incorporating more meals into the day! (Also pg!)

I wouldn't have thought a bowl of cereal was suitable for a night out at the theatre? Maybe your book doesn't realise supper is a sort of evening breakfast?

That was the abbreviated version...

Usually contains 4 choruses of 'Unscheduled Cereal' and a coda of 'What's in the Biscuit Tin'.

I say dinner btw and am from nowhere near London, originally from Oop North, currently live in Norfolk.

When younger, used to travel to Korea a lot for work. They couldn't pronounce letter "L" properly. Also they used to add "ee" to end of nearly every word.

Hence lunch is now known as "runchie". These has infiltrated into whole family and in past relationships!

I am not a lady who lunches (I wish!), but a "raydee who runcies"

2nervesleft I think the etiquette book was referring to the title of the meal you eat at a restaurant pre/post theatre (will have to get that book back from a friend to give you the exact wording!)

Or even "runchies"...spolit entire post there!

Ah - so great debate ensues.

Re supper, I know of only 3 people who refer to supper as the main meal. Two of them would be considered upper class and the other has hugely snobbish tendencies.

So is it a class thing then?? I'm not middle class and was raised in a working class council scheme but dinner is dinner.

Breakfast
lunch
Dinner
Supper

In our house its
Breakfast (cereal or toast)
Lunch (small cooked lunch or sandwich)
Dinner (cooked main meal)
kept the same throughout the week. Sometimes we'll have supper before bed, usually cereal or toast.

Mum does the same as me, apart from Sundays where
lunch time is their dinner (cooked main meal)
dinner time is their tea (sandwich or salad) iyswim

Grandma has
breakfast (toast or cereal)
dinner (cooked)
tea (sandwich)

Breakfast

Dinner if at home, Lunch if eating out.

Tea if at home, Dinner if eating out.

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Supper

Breakfast, lunch, tea.
Don't have a dinner, although where I grew up, dinner was lunch. And round here, tea is a bit of cake or a sandwich and dinner is your evening meal.