Dinner or supper?

[Lake View Too]

Inspired by the movie, "The Help", my pretty southern wife cooked a wonderful, large meal of fried chicken, black-eyed peas, cornbread, etc., and we ate it around one o'clock on Sunday afternoon. I called it "supper" since it was way more than a "lunch". She said emphatically that it was "dinner". I believe you can only have dinner at night, sometime after 6:00PM. Who's right?

 

[buster]

You are right. Unless you want her to cook for you again. Where's she from?

The confusion may come in because Sunday Dinner may be a term all its own in some parts.

"After church yauntsome Sunday Dinner?"

 

[BeachbumAggie]

Supper is only served 5pm or later so it wasn't supper! I'd have just called it lunch unless it was Sunday and then indeed it would've been a Sunday dinner! I'm from East Texas with Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi roots if that helps!

 

[Beach Runner]

I grew up using "dinner" for lunchtime because my grandmothers would cook up a slew of food at lunch. I think it goes back to the days when men worked on the farm and were very hungry midday. They called the evening meal "supper" and often it would be as simple as breakfast for "supper."

Now that my grandmothers are gone, I use the modern terms -- lunch for the midday meal and dinner for the evening meal. The exceptions are Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Easter. We always have our big dinners at midday on those days.

 

[DD]

I'd have still called it lunch or Sunday dinner. After 5, I would call it supper or dinner. Confused? I always used to say supper for the evening meal, but somewhere along the line I started calling it dinner. I think I thought it sounded less "country" than supper. So, I'm with bba and BR....I think.

 

[Lake View Too]

I guess I better call it what she calls it, so she will keep calling me to dinner and/or supper...

 

[Kurt]

Anytime is time for fried chickens.

 

[Beach Runner]

Anytime is time for fried chickens.

We had that for "dinner" on Sunday.

But we had lunch at H&M on Saturday.

 

[seacrestgirl]

Dinner is the biggest meal of the day....which long ago was mid-day. Supper is in the evening!

These days, dinner is by far the more refined word for an evening meal. I work with old folks, so it's supper to them....and supper to me!

 

[DD]

seacrestgirl, what do you do?