Форум языковой школы "LSC Лингва Сервис Центр"

Do you usually say "have breakfast, lunch and dinner" or "have breakfast, dinner and supper"? At schools kids are often taught that people in the US and the UK have breakfast, then - dinner (in the afternoon) and in the evening they have supper. But I work with such textbooks as Total English, Touchstone, Complete IELTS and others. There the meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner. What about supper?

That's what native speakers say...

"It is very different in the UK and the US, so I can only answer for the US.

Dinner is the largest meal of the day, regardless of whether it is at midday or in the evening. Generally, especially on workdays, we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, lunch and supper. Many of us use "dinner" and "supper" interchangeably. Others call it dinner if it is a large meal, and supper if it is lighter or later in the evening.

If the midday meal is a large one, it is often called dinner, especially on Sundays and holidays. Thanksgiving Dinner, generally the largest meal we eat all year, can be served at any time from 11 AM to about 7 PM. Many families have a tradition of a large meal at midday on Sundays, and this is called Sunday dinner.

A picnic is almost never called dinner - either a picnic lunch or a picnic supper.

For the evening meal, some people call it dinner if it is fancy, and supper if it is plain and simple."

***

"Usually it is breakfast, lunch and dinner and if you are a bit peckish at about 9 or 10 0 ´clock, you can have a bit of supper.

It is different in the North of the UK, where the evening meal is called ´tea ´. ´Tea ´ used to refer to sandwiches and cake at tea-time (4 or 5 o ´clock), but it ´s rare to have this kind of tea now, unless you are going out for a cream tea, which is scones with cream and jam.

Having said that, it ´s quite common to refer to the midday meal as dinner, so you have breakfast, dinner and tea and then supper a bit later. "

***

"My wife ´s from England and her family are great fans of supper. As if they didn ´t eat enough at ..... tea! Indeed, dinner is often called tea here, down-under. So when people ask "Is tea ready?" they mean dinner. Apart from all that, in this obese (western) world, it ´s wise to eat breakfast as a king, lunch as a prince and dinner as a pauper. Meaning we should have a big breakfast, small lunch and a very small dinner, simply because it ´s healthier. And sorry for those late-night-snackers, but supper is thus out of the question. "

***

"British English here.
Morning = breakfast
11 o ´ clock = elevenses
Midday = lunch is universally understood, dinner if it is a cooked meal (we always talk about "school dinner" if you eat in the canteen at school)
4 o ´ clock = afternoonses (a little something), high tea (posh! lots of cakes!)
evening = dinner, tea, evening meal (the latter is universally understood)
before bed = supper"