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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
My experience is similar to of troy's, namely that dinner was always the most substantial meal,
always at noon. I never heard of lunch until I left home.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
For me, the word breakfast symbolizes my first attempt at etymology. I was five or six years old and decided since breakfast was a quick meal it must mean a "fast break" and someone decided to switch the words. My mother quickly steered me in the right direction (being a wordlover herself).
we always had dinner in the evening - except for sunday dinner, which was usually about 3 or 4 (breakfast was late, 9 or 10 or even 11 depending on which mass we went to) in the evening (after 7 or so) we would have fruit or cheese, or some times soup-- but it was not quite an organized meal, rather just bits and pieces.
We made up a name for this: fend-for-yourself supper.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Growing up on the West Coast, we consistently used breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My aunt, who seems to be a little more entrenched in her Midwestern roots, always refers to the evening meal as supper, and that *still* seems to be the deal here in the Midwest. Another variation, relative to times of day - breakfast is the early morning meal, but if it stretches too close to noon, it becomes brunch (also used for fancy buffet-type affairs on certain holidays - Mothers' Day and Easter pop to mind). And on a lazy Sunday, if my roommate and I haven't pulled ourselves together well during the day, the main meal sometimes happens around the traditional tea time - 3 or 4 - and we've coined lupper to describe that phenomenon. 
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member
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member
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of troy, your mention of 'tea' brings to mind a story.
I was a foreign exchange student in Albury, NSW one year and wasn't given a crash course in Oz dialect prior to arriving. The first couple of evenings I was there I was asked if I'd like some tea. I responded 'no' as I really don't like tea - sweetened, unsweetened, or hot tea for that matter. After then seeing the family sit down and eat supper without me, I finally caught on.
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
In Mexico, and many other Spanish-speaking cultures, they have desayuno (ayuno meaning fast as in fasting) usually a continental-type breakfast upon arising. In the late morning they have almuerzo, usually eggs, beans and tortillas. Somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00 is the comida, the substantial meal of the day. Early evening, around 8:00 they have the cena, a light supper. And then there is the requisite 3:00-4:00am menudo if you've been out having several pints.  Personally, the smell of menudo makes me wish I hadn't had that last pint or two 
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
the smell of menudo makes me wish I hadn't had that last pint or two
And I always found menudo to be the perfect antidote to that last pint or two. Guess it takes all kinds.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
I just woke up from a four-hour nap following a very long and liquid lunch at a pub that's just opened down the road. I'm just about due for my menudo ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
My experience was about the same as of troy's experience.
Evening meal about 6 p.m. - dinner - a large meal but Sunday dinner about 3 p.m. On occasion supper/dinner were used for the same meal. I learned the difference when on my first trip to Ireland. The B&B I stayed in offered "breakfast and supper" so I skipped dinner and had to make do with tea, toast and jam for *supper!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
supper is weekdays, anywhere from 5-7, unless you go out, and then it's dinner. dinner also for Sunday, early to mid afternoon.
dinner usually implies something a bit fancier...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I've been thinking about all of this, and realise that, throughout my life, there have been quite substantial changes in the way I refer to different meals. I was brought up to Breakfast, Dinner, Tea (occasionally, supper after that). When I went to school, the mid-day meal served in the canteen was always "School Dinners" (and pretty horrible they were, too  ) but many of my school-mates brought "lunch" with them, which was to be eaten at the mid-morning break - about 10.30 ish. They then went on to eat "School Dinner", so it was not a substitute - it was additional fodder. When I started work, however, the firm's canteen served Lunch from midday to 1 pm - and this was just as substantial a meal as School Dinner, although much more palatable. If I then had a cooked meal in the evening (which I usually did) that was called Dinner. All of the above took place in London. "Tea" was a meal that I rarely took - usually when invited out to someone's home, or at my own home on a Sunday. It consisted of bread & butter with jam, fish- or meat-paste, and a cutting cake (i.e., not individual small cakes - one big one that was shared out) which was either a sponge- or a fruit-cake. I still call my meals breakfast, lunch, dinner now that I've moved North, but have become very accustomed to hearing local people refer to the main, evening meal as their tea. The light luncheon that they take to work is known as "baggins" in these parts. Dinner is the mid-day meal on Sunday, or what you have if you go out to a restaurant.
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