Dinner, lunch or tea?

[me123]

On a related note, I've just come back from the USA, where the main course of a meal is referred to as an 'entrée'. A word translating as 'entrance' being used in this context is rather silly.

Been caught out by this myself - I had a very large meal one night in America after ordering two main courses which arrived simultaneously!

 

[DaleCooper]

Aping the Frogs no doubt

Do you mean they catch their food with their tongue?

 

[Class172]

Breakfast, lunch and dinner/tea which I use interchangeably. With perhaps the exception of a full roast, the midday meal is never dinner.

Instead they were either 'lunchtime organisers' or simply 'the cook'. It wasn't even known as 'school dinners' very much either, more often being referred to as part of the Free School Meals scheme or just 'canteen food' - the quality of it was universally derided.

"Lunchtime organisers" - that made me laugh... what a ridiculous name.

 

[Clip]

Honestly 7 pages and you already heard the correct answer on post 2......

 

[Busaholic]

I did consider High Tea, but I don't think I've ever experienced such a thing. Is it not considered to be a wee bit posh, and therefore not for the likes of plebs like me?

They used to serve it on the afternoon sailing from Aberdeen to Lerwick, which was the only time I experienced it.

 

[alxndr]

If pushed I'll name the morning meal as breakfast, the mid-day meal as lunch, and the evening meal as dinner/tea, but I'll also occasionally use supper. In reality though you'll find me just giving up and referring to everything as "food". It gets much too complicated when you're on shifts and eating your main meal at 4pm, but it's also the first thing you've eaten that day so technically breakfast, and you're preparing sandwiches to scoff at midnight.

I've recently finished reading How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman, and she touches on the topic of meals, and their names, during the period. I found it quite interesting to see how it varied between the classes, particularly as I've had people comment on calling it "supper" a bit posh—and indeed it's something that I picked up when boarding at a private school. Quite the opposite of what it was then.

Taken at noon, the midday meal was known as 'lunch' or 'dinner'. The name largely depended upon social background, but is was also dictated by the function of the repast. In a working-class family, the meal was referred to as 'dinner' and, in cases where a man could return home from work at this hour, it was the family's main meal of the day... Among middle-class families, the midday meal was generally called 'lunch'—or 'luncheon', to give it it's full title.

On a typical weekday in 1837, an agricultural labourer's wife living in the south-east of England... would have offered her family a simple serving of a few slices of bread for the evening meal, which was known as 'supper'... In the home of a skilled tradesman such as a carpenter or blacksmith in almost any market town of England or lowland Scotland, the main meal of the day would have already been taken at midday. The evening meal, whether it was called 'tea' or 'supper', was based upon bread and butter... The fashionable middle and upper classes sat down to dine at five o'clock in the evening. They may have partaken of lunch, or tea and cakes, earlier in the day, but this was their primary mealtime, and they called it 'dinner'.

 

[GusB]

If pushed I'll name the morning meal as breakfast, the mid-day meal as lunch, and the evening meal as dinner/tea, but I'll also occasionally use supper. In reality though you'll find me just giving up and referring to everything as "food". It gets much too complicated when you're on shifts and eating your main meal at 4pm, but it's also the first thing you've eaten that day so technically breakfast, and you're preparing sandwiches to scoff at midnight.

I've recently finished reading How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman, and she touches on the topic of meals, and their names, during the period. I found it quite interesting to see how it varied between the classes, particularly as I've had people comment on calling it "supper" a bit posh—and indeed it's something that I picked up when boarding at a private school. Quite the opposite of what it was then.

Shift working does distort mealtimes somewhat. On one of my previous jobs I did a 6am - 2pm shift. There was a local catering company that would deliver, so I would order a full breakfast and it would arrive some time between 10am and noon. That would be my "main meal" of the day. If I went to visit friends or family later that day I'd often be invited to stay for tea...