Dinner Time

[turboped]

Yesterday a friend of mine asked if I was going to in at Dinnertime as he was going to call round, "yes" I said.

Yesterday I was out from 10am until around 4pm and home in time for dinner between 6pm to 8pm. My friend did not show up. Today he tells me he called yesterday at 12.30pm, I told him that he said he was going to call later he said no I didn't I told you I was going to call at dinnertime. He said that everyone knows dinnertime is the middle of the day, I didn't, when did this happen?

[joko]

dinner time is the same as lunch time, about 1-2pm

evening meal is tea time, usually about 5-6pm

however it think there is some north/south divide with this

the above is the northern way

i think southerners may say supper for evening meal, whereas in the north supper tends to meal a late night snack

[tictactoe]

Do not want to appear to be generalising here turboped, but mostly (not all) southerners will call mid-day meal lunch and evening meal dinner. Further north (corrie will refer to it often), people will call the mid-day meal dinner and the later meal either tea (when it is light) or supper when the food is generally more substantial.

The only one we will all agree on is breakfast or the in-between am and pm as brunch.

Please, do not attack me for this comment fellow ABers, but this is answering turbo's Q as best I can, without meaning to offend anyone.

[turboped]

I am 'Northern' and I always call midday meal 'LUNCH' and evening meal 'Dinner'.

[kempie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner

[tictactoe]

As I said turbo, I wasn't generalising - there are going to be a different choice of meal names, wherever one lives or originated from...

You say tomata, I say tomato...

[saxy_jag]

I grew up, and still live, in Leicester, so half way between North and South. My dad always used to knock off work for dinner at 12 noon, and have tea when he got home at around 6.30. It was only after I married a man whose mother was a snob that I began to call these meals lunch and dinner, as he'd been brought up to call them (he's not a snob, though).

[Rock'n'Roll]

Lancs lad, Breakfast,then dinner,then tea.. No brunch or high teas up here

[kazza12345]

i come form the south coast ... for me meal order would go like this ( not that i eat all these meals)
breakfast
brunch
lunch
tea
supper
midnight snack!

[Quizmonster]

One cannot hope to explain the differences better than simply by quoting what The Oxford English Dictionary says about 'dinner'...

"The chief meal of the day, eaten originally and still by the majority of people about the middle of the day, but now, by the professional and fashionable classes, usually in the evening."

It is clear, therefore, that it is a matter entirely of class and - to some extent - geography.

[lankeela]

London born and bred, now in Norfolk, and always called it dinner at midday and tea in the evening. Why else would you have school DINNER ladies? They don't cook between 6 and 8 pm do they?

And what else is tea if dinner is at 'tea' time?

Dinner in the evening is just for snobs and yuppies. (I don't care who I offend tictactoe).

[chimpydoodle]

Dinner happens at 12.30pm and tea at 6pm.

In my office we ask "what time are you having dinner?" and we obviously are refering to our mid day break not evening meal!!

We are in the east midlands, but i think we are more like northerners!

[turboped]

I don't think snobbery can come into it. Kempie's link explains it best.

My main meal is always in the evening. Tea time is 'time for tea' no mention of food there.

Cimpey' just because a lot of people say something it does not make it correct. Just like the old "You can't have your cake and eat it", that is wrong of course you can have your cake and eat it but you can't eat your cake and still have it.
Therefore my friend was neither right or wrong just ambiguous.

[bernardo]

Regardless of when "dinner" is, or what each meal is called, it's your friend's silly fault for not arranging a specific time, e.g. "12:30pm" or "7pm". Squirt some yorkshire pudding into his ears and shove a whippet down his throat, and then he won't do it again.

[Grunty]

On display at Osborne House is a card from Queen Victoria inviting someone to a dinner at 1 p.m. prompt.

[janetsflower]

I agree that dinner is the main meal of the day, however this is usually taken in the evening due to work commitments etc and so in our household its lunch at midday ish and dinner in the evening. At school children are often served a proper cooked meal as ooposed to a sandwich/snack taken by the majority of working people and so this is my understanding as to why school meals are referred to as dinners and not lunches. As others have suggested though it varies up and down the country and between classes of people.

[maxximus]

as breakfast is my favorite meal but i can't eat in the morning i have breakfast for dinner but you call it supper. cheers eh!

[turboped]

bernardo - thanks for the comment, read mine one up from yours.

Also why would I need to do anything with whippets or yorkshire puddings? You are not only generalising but I think you are also under the impression that my friend is from Yorkshire, if he was, I would certainly follow your advice but as he is not, then I won't.

Now be a good boy, go down the apples and make us a nice cup of rosey me old china.

[joko]

how strange that you have starred the 3 answers that agree with you, despite the other about 12 answers that feel the your friend is correct.

did you just want back up for your argument, or real answers?

[turboped]

joko, look at my answers, look at kempie's link and read it, and stop being such a misery a*se. I have conceded that I am wrong to assume that Dinner is always in the evening, now be a good girl and wind your neck back in.

Oh and here's a patronising 3 stars.

Oh and patronise means condescending.

[turboped]

On the other hand joko you have a most valid point, but I have only given three stars to answers not hearsay. Because I imagined you typing your last post in a malicious way I responded with what could only be described as a rant. I apologise, I do, honest.
(please note that this response is not to be taken as patronising).