Evening meal

[sneezer]

What do you call yours? Tea, supper or dinner?

I call it dinner.

[maxd]

Dinner

[natalie_1982]

Dinner, am from Blackbird Leys near Oxford if it makes any difference (was thinking maybe them oop narth call it something other to us dahn sauf).

[normyc]

tea is your main evening meal, dinner is what you have at 12pm....... i'm from the north west

[thikasabrik]

If I eat a meal with the kids at 5pm I call it tea, but if I am eating later I call it dinner. At midday  I have lunch and late at night I have supper. Just to confuse things further, at lunchtime on Sundays I have Sunday dinner. I'm from Yorkshire and most of my relatives eat breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. Lunch doesn't feature in their vocabulary, unless they're talking about someone from south of Watford. I think it's a regional thing.

[Sammy Snake]

I'm from Stoke as well and its definately TEA!!

[Quizmonster]

One cannot hope to explain the differences between lunch and dinner 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.

[sneezer]

It must be a regional thing then, I'm from northern ireland and I used to call it tea and sunday dinner, supper was virtually un heard of but since living over in the mainland I'm now calling it dinner and sunday lunch.

I think I will revert to type and head home for some Tea!

[spudqueen]

TEA. I'm from the North West as well, and I have breakfast, dinner, tea and if I want something to eat before bed, supper. Lunch was a midmorning snack.

[Quicksilver]

Dinner

[normyc]

if quizmonster is right, then us northeners mustn't be fashionable

:-(

[funkychicken]

tea

[Artemis]

Tea - originally called 'High Tea' which is a main meal and normally between 5pm to 7pm.

Supper - An evening meal that is usually light and not the main meal. Normally between 8pm to midnight.

Dinner - Originally the main meal of the day and taken in the evening between 7pm to 11pm. Because it is the main meal of the day it can now be taken at what is technically Luncheon. 

[EssJay1]

I agree with the OED - for a change. My "large, hot meal" is my dinner, so I may have breakfast, dinner and tea OR I could have breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I have a take-away, I call it tea. (At the weekends it's often brunch and dinner). Supper is a light snack before I go to bed.
I was born and bred in the north west, but now live in Essex. Where does class come in to this?

[EssJay1]

Sorry - where does class come into the meal issue, not where I currently live!

[thikasabrik]

Does this mean that I have the double handicap of being Northern AND common then?

[dmsjps]

Yes, thikasabrik, you and I both. I'm originally from Yorkshire too and of course, in Yorkshire everyone else is on the same wavelength, so you don't feel an outcast there. But move away and you'll feel it! 'T-E-A!! What's tea, commoner?!'

[Dark Angel]

Dinner.

[smudge]

Dinner.

(Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner).