Jamie's School "Dinners"!

[Ducklet Cat]

I was looking at this:
Jamie's School Dinners - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My understanding was that lunch is a mean that we eat on midday, while dinner is eaten in the evening, but when I checked the dictionary I found that both lunch and dinner can be eaten at midday! So dinner = lunch?

Can someone explain to me?

Another question:
What about supper how is it different that dinner?

Thanks :)

[Anglika]

It is a social thing.

For some groups, dinner is the main meal, taken at midday; for others it is a meal taken in the evening. A supper was a light meal taken before retiring to bed. It has now become interchangeable with dinner in the evening.

Lunch is also used for a main meal in the middle of the day. It derives from luncheon - a snack taken at any time in the day until late afternoon. As a word it has become restricted to very formal occasions.

[Ducklet Cat]

Thanks Anglika.
WOW! I've been speaking English for over 15 years and did not know that.

As a word it has become restricted to very formal occasions.

You mean lunch or luncheon?


Another question:
For those who call the midday mean dinner, what do they call night meal supper then?

[Anglika]

#1 "luncheon" now has a formal meaning.

#2 Probably "Tea" (just to confuse you even further!). These usages are most often found in that group of society who were employed as labourers or factory workers, whose working day started early and ended by late afternoon.

[Ducklet Cat]

Yes I'm confused, but thanks for your help anyway. :)

May I ask what to you call the midday and night meals? Lunch and dinner or what?

Thanks again.

[Anglika]

Generally I have lunch midday and supper at night. Dinner will imply a formal meal with guests.

[British] The meals in a day:

Breakfast [ morning meal, at which you break your fast]
Elevensies - small snack eaten midmorning
Lunch/Dinner - Main midday meal
Tea - either a small meal taken late afternoon with tea to drink, or the final meal of the day - also known as "High Tea", and including meats or cooked foods, not just bread, biscuits and cake.
Dinner/Supper - evening meal.


In older usage, a nuncheon was a snack taken at any time, and luncheon was also a light meal. in High Society, Dinner was the evening meal, and Supper a light meal taken before retiring to bed.

I would not let these terms worry you, but they are quite important to understand if you are reading 19th century literature.

[Ducklet Cat]

That was very instructive.
Thanks Anglika.