Do you use Tea, or Dinner as a word for the last meal per day?

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New_Factor2568@reddit

Generally I call it supper, unless it’s more formal, then it’s dinner. So it’s breakfast, lunch, supper most days, except Friday, or other more special occasions when it’s dinner. Supper has only one course, but dinner may have two or three. We don’t have tea anymore, but we did on Sundays as children.

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Agentparsnip@reddit

I say both interchangeably

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Informal_Ganache_222@reddit

I think we should bring back the word supper

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Novel-Case6821@reddit

I use both. Trying to think if there's any logic to it ie dinner for more formal situations (wouldn't have tea in a restaurant) but for home I definitely do use both.

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kifflington@reddit

Dinner. My husband is a true northerner so 'dinner' to him is the midday meal. We've been together nearly 18 years and neither of us will budge.

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maersyl@reddit

Hah, same with me and my wife! She’s north eastern and just won’t budge. Nearly 14 years together and it’s a hill she will die on.

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IllustriousSundae607@reddit

She is right and she probably grew up having school dinners , served by dinner ladies in the dinner hall at dinner time

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AussieHxC@reddit

Is this not a universal experience? (Mind, I am also from the NE)

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JasperCarrots@reddit

What's strange to me having grown up in London/surrounding area we only ever had dinner in the evening, middle of the day is always lunch even in a Sunday if you have a roast in the middle of the day it's Sunday lunch, but the ladies who supervised lunch at school were always dinner ladies!

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AussieHxC@reddit

Sunday lunch sounds positively psychotic.

Sunday dinner always

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kifflington@reddit

We had dinner ladies in the lunch room. I don't know either.

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skewiffcorn@reddit

My partner says dinner is lunch, I use it for tea. But I’m from more north than him!

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Leezeebub@reddit

Does he have his lunch in the morning?

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kifflington@reddit

Lunch to him is just a no. It goes Breakfast -> Dinner -> Tea. You should see his face if I suggest brunch.

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wimpires@reddit

My wife (Northerner, I'm Scottish) calls it Dinner now. But she still calls all types of rolls tea cakes.

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AussieHxC@reddit

North north west?

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math577@reddit

Your husband is correct though.

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Czubeczek@reddit

Back in the day dinner would be served at noon, but with industrialisation and change of working hours dinner moved to Tea time and got replaced with lunch. Thwt's how i understand it. I call tea dinner. Lunch at midday ish.

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Martinonfire@reddit

You may call tea dinner but I am glad you are aware that the proper term is tea.

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NotoriousP_U_G@reddit

He absolutely isn’t

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kifflington@reddit

How very dare you.

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Madwife2009@reddit

Same. My children use 'dinner' for the evening meal.

I have no idea why my husband says 'dinner' for the midday meal. He was born in Oxford.

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JasperCarrots@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper. Southerner

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WesternPeak425@reddit

Originally from Yorkshire where the meal between 5 and 7 pm was tea. Dinner was probably lunch (think school dinner). Now living in the South and “teatime” meal is dinner.

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ReySpacefighter@reddit

It's dinner. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Tea is a separate thing.

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Great-Activity-5420@reddit

I don't have a meal at 7pm that's late. 5 usually. I call it tea but I have told my daughter it's dinner and I can't get her to say tea now 🤣 I say mid meal is dinner too

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TimeNew2108@reddit

I'm from Yorkshire dinnertime is lunch and teatime is the evening meal here

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BoudaSmoke@reddit

I say breakfast, lunch, dinner. As a northener, I am regularly frustrated by the way most people round my way say breakfast, dinner, tea instead. I feel this is incorrect, though I appreciate that I am in the minority (at least up north). I think of dinner as the main hot cooked meal of the day, so I will sometimes use the latter option if the midday meal is hot and the evening meal is cold, which isn't as common these days.

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LosingItIn2025@reddit

Growing up in the midlands with a northern parent and a midlander parent = we used Tea. I think it’s definitely a regional thing. Live in the midlands now and have noticed I have a gradual move over the years to using ‘dinner’

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Demostravius4@reddit

Both.

Tea tended to be a smaller meal, whereas dinner is the main meal of the day.

Recently I've noticed myself just using them as synonyms.

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Curious_Octopod@reddit

The last meal is supper at 10pm. Dinner is 7-8pm, tea is 4-6pm.

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YorkshireMary@reddit

Tea, cos I'm in Yorkshire

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Exciting_Depression@reddit

Tea is your afternoon break, a light drink and bite after finishing your busy day.

Dinner is your evening meal.

I won't accept anything else!

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_thenshedid@reddit

Dinner first then tea later on. And tea is always the bigger meal where I am (north east)

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Chemical-Lettuce2497@reddit

Both, last meal can be tea or dinner but middle is always lunch

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Different_Fall1391@reddit

Dinner here in London.

My eldest is at uni in Cornwall and her housemates are from up North. She has started calling it 'tea'.

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Whoosholliander@reddit

Tea is a drink. 😄

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Short_Zebra5651@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Anything after dinner is a wee bit of supper. Glasgow :)

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banoffeetea@reddit

Dinner would be a late/last meal eg after work, something I’ve cooked and has taken some effort, or something to go out to a restaurant for.

Tea is something that could be had in the afternoon (not afternoon tea) about 4pm say. Like an early dinner but something more casual. Tea after school so teatime food was kids’ food. Like chips and beans or jacket potato. Now I’d maybe have a ‘picky tea’ so random things on a plate.

Supper was always a post-dinner, post-pudding before bedtime treat like bread and jam.

Lunch is lunch to me. Dinner can only be lunch if it’s formal and big like a Sunday dinner - a Sunday roast.

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No-Sandwich1511@reddit

Dinner, tea is a drink

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ShihtzuMum39@reddit

I say Tea meaning Tea 🙂 I have never referred to my last meal as Dinner. Dinner to me is an alternative to saying Lunch. As a kid, we had Dinner Ladies at school who served the meal eaten in the middle of the day.

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Kukotzki@reddit

I once said dinner referring to a meal cooked at home and an elderly couple corrected me saying that dinner is when you are invited to a restaurant.

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Designer-Age-4583@reddit

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

Both my old school and my kids’ current school serve “tea” (drinks and cakes) at 3:45pm, so after school and before prep (homework).

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Intelligent-Count-44@reddit

Dinner is the big meal of the day whether that’s afternoon or evening.

So it’s either lunch and dinner, or dinner and tea.

Warwickshire.

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Intelligent-Count-44@reddit

Also I’ve read the word dinner so many times now it doesn’t seem like a real word… dinner

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twister-uk@reddit

Dinner dinner dinner dinner, Dinner dinner dinner dinner, BATMAN!

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FCNeonin@reddit

We still yell BATMAN in our house to indicate that dinner is done.

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jennye951@reddit

Supper

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CocoRufus@reddit

Ive always said supper for evening meal at home

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Appropriate_Hawk5439@reddit

Being Welsh I always used to call it Tea but then my partner who is English says Dinner, so now it’s Dinner

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Automatic-Pie-111@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner

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Automatic-Pie-111@reddit

Dinner

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Silvercurved@reddit

Dinner. 🍽️

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Aroracherry@reddit

Breakfast, dinner, tea from a northerner

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elhazelenby@reddit

I'm originally from Kent & I use Dinner for the Evening Meal but others here in the North East will say Dinner as Lunch/Midday Meal and Tea as the Evening Meal.

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smellyfeet25@reddit

Dinner is the last meal of the day for me . I often eat it whilst watching TV

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Active_Definition_57@reddit

I'm southern and tend to say lunch and dinner. Dinner was also used to mean the main cooked meal of the day so we would talk about having "dinner at lunch time" or "at dinner time". If we'd had the main meal at lunch we would call the lighter later meal "tea".

Despite this, as a child, me and my friends would talk about going round someone's house for tea or somebody going in for their tea while we were out playing.

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WoodenEggplant4624@reddit

Dinner

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Sea_Pangolin3840@reddit

Northern so tea

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Qyro@reddit

Yes. Dinner is the cooked meal of the day regardless of time. It replaces either lunch or tea depending on when you have it.

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Glittering-War-4745@reddit

We have always used "tummy stuffing" here, but I know that is not particularly common.

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Jumpy_Imagination208@reddit

Supper

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cheesewindow@reddit

Tea, I'm Northern.

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WhalingSmithers00@reddit

I had to give up on it after years of working in hospitality and living down south. I try and hang on to my accent but I said lunch and dinner more times working than I would say dinner and tea at home.

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PiercedX123@reddit

I have worked with southerners too long, so the midday meal is lunch (or bait or scran) but the evening meal is tea. Dinner only happens at Christmas.

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arc4angel100@reddit

My condolences

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catfordbeerclub@reddit

I concur

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Hawkstreamer@reddit

Lunch is in the middle of the day. Tea was always mid-afternoon when i grew up - meaning either afternoon tea which is a drink of tea with cakes and sandwiches or High Tea which was a light cooked meal. Dinner or even Supper was always the evening meal.

'Tea' referring to dinner/supper was always either lower class and/or northern phraseology.

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StatsFactsRants@reddit

Just putting out there that according to J.R.R. Tolkien the proper order is as follows:

Breakfast
Second Breakfast
Elevenses
Luncheon
Afternoon Tea
Dinner
Supper

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Solo-me@reddit

You forgot brunch

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IDKBear25@reddit

Brunch isn't a real thing.

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HashDefTrueFalse@reddit

I'd need a day off for all that!

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Original-Material301@reddit

Grew up in Belfast. It was dinner (mid day, school dinners), then tea (evening).

I got so confused when I moved to England in my teens.

Now I'm breakfast, lunch, dinner.

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not-my-circus1992@reddit

I always use tea for the last meal of the day, I'm from the north west.

If you're interested, you can find dialect or word heat maps for this. There's also an interesting shift that words tend to become standardised as people move around the country/world, or use the internet more.

Source: a linguistics degree.

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

That was SO interesting thank you!

It backs up what I've always thought, that most of my family's dialect growing up was heavily influenced by the family members that were from Derbyshire, The Midlands and various parts of the North (I'm from East Anglia but don't sound like it)

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not-my-circus1992@reddit

I am so glad you found it interesting! Word migration was one of my favourite topics at uni. I also love teaching people about words that only exist in really small areas 😂

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

Haha I can imagine! I not only found it interesting, I've bookmarked it to see any changes, it's beyond fascinating to me

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GlamorganTestesWard@reddit

Thanks for that link. I have nerdacious tendencies in this field, so that is Mother’s Milk to me 💚

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not-my-circus1992@reddit

Yessssss, I am happy to share the dialect love!

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Khaleesix87@reddit

Dinner mainly but have used tea around those who say tea lol tea is a drink to me 🤣🤣

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pgnlzbth@reddit

Lunch and tea for me although it was school dinner at school. I’m from the north west.

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Alternative_Head_416@reddit

Same for me and also from the north west! Say roast dinner as well though but tend to have that mid-afternoon.

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pgnlzbth@reddit

Yeah I call it a gravy dinner

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Megacityone1@reddit

I'm southwest and say lunch and dinner, school dinner for lunch at school. Lots of people in my school said tea though!

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Martinonfire@reddit

So your school had it right but you refused to learn?

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sillwuka@reddit

Exactly the same for me

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MikeSizemore@reddit

Grew up with dinner and tea (plus supper just before bed) as a northerner but as an adult in London have only ever had lunch and supper.

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Atlantean_Raccoon@reddit

They were all different things in my house. Tea (shortened from Afternoon Tea) tends to be a lighter meal in the mid afternoon (after school) largely consisting of small sandwiches, light pastries or cakes and of course with a selection of tea. Dinner tends to be a larger meal eaten in the early evening with Supper being the final meal of the day, typically light and eaten later on in the evening. I don't think I ever had all three of these meals in the same day. Afternoon Tea and a Supper or just a snack after school and then Dinner were the standards.

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Throwaway91847817@reddit

Tea. And the middle meal is Lunch. Ive never used Dinner, but others in my area do, for both meals. People say it’s regional but Im my experience its all over the place.

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Artistic-Fish1125@reddit

Supper.

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National-Vegetable92@reddit

Dinner. South of England. The word tea for a meal makes me feel sick to hear. It genuinely gives me the ick

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idreaminlowercase@reddit

Dinner

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MerrieEnglandCartoon@reddit

Dinner where I come from. My very working class mother was evacuated during the war and was placed with a couple of teachers who were very middle class. By the time she got home to her stepmother, she'd done a full 180 turn, going from a cockney sparrer to a candidate for BBC newsreader. Consequently, in our house, it has always been dinner and it always will be for me. However, at our council estate junior school, we were served school lunches by dinner ladies!

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Remarkable-Volume615@reddit

Dinner.

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IcyPuffin@reddit

I use tea. Dinner or lunch is the meal around midday.

However, i do occasionally use dinner when referring to the last main meal. I say dinner if i am referring to going out for a meal in the evening. But only after 6 or 7pm. If im going out to eat around 4 ir 5 then it is tea.

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Diesel1donna@reddit

Supper!

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Agent_Bumblebee@reddit

I'm northern, but I've lived down South for a good while now. I use both interchangeably and call the afternoon meal lunch now. But, when I was up north I would say dinner in the afternoon and tea in the evening and whenever I go back there I immediately switch back to that.

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PassiveTheme@reddit

As a kid, the word "dinner" always confused me. One side of my family used it to refer to the midday meal, and the other side used it to refer to the evening meal. So I always had breakfast, lunch, and tea.

I moved to London for uni and found that calling it "tea" confused people so I began calling my evening meal "dinner". I moved back up north after uni and got back to calling it "tea" again. Then I moved to Canada and had to start calling it "dinner".

That said, it's always a roast dinner whatever time of day it's served.

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AdvanceAlive2103@reddit

In the north dinner is midday meal, tea is evening meal - at least at every house I’ve ever eaten at in the north

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Electronic_Branch_13@reddit

Dinner

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Background_King_3551@reddit

We say tea dinner is our midday meal. At school we had dinner time and dinner ladies. I'm in south Cumbria saying lunch around here people will think your upper class.😂😂😂

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Colleen987@reddit

Tea. Dinner is in the middle of the day. There was a big hole BBC sitcom called dinner ladies about women who worked in schools

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darktourist92@reddit

Midlands - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

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boredathome1962@reddit

Evening meal is dinner, but so is lunchtime meal...

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toastandjam97@reddit

Northern ( Lancashire ) and it’s always been breakfast, dinner and tea for us and then supper would mean like a slice of toast or cereal before bed ?

Something I’ve always found interesting… could be wrong but I think even southerners call the women that serve you your meal at school ‘dinner ladies’ …

I’ve not heard them called ‘lunch ladies in the uk - only in the US’.

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MinimumSilver5814@reddit

Dinner, because I’m not northern.

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Clear-Student-9607@reddit

It’s fascinating how these terms are such a strong regional identity marker rather than just a meal time. My partner and I have the same stalemate where I say dinner for the evening but to him it’s strictly lunch, so we just end up clarifying every single time. I think the class divide plays into it too, with tea feeling more working class and dinner sounding fancier down south. Honestly, as long as there’s food on the table, I’ll call it whatever keeps the peace.

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Dull-Amphibian-5779@reddit

It depends entirely on what we’re having, and at what time, and what mood I’m in or if I’ve been around my parents or extended family (Irish)

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ParsleyChops@reddit

I’m from the south, everyone uses Dinner but I can’t stand the word, idk why but it makes me cringe so much, so I say Tea instead

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Srddrs@reddit

Dinner. My parents and family members in that generation say “supper” but I hate it. Makes my skin crawl.

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fastestman4704@reddit

Depends on the meal.

Baked potato and tuna is Tea.

A roast is a dinner.

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Sad_Maximum3344@reddit

Dinner is at 12ish, tea at 19:00ish depending husband reappears!! And we only have lunch when we're out🤣🤣

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ratgirl9241@reddit

I use tea/dinner interchangeably. Still think of school lunch as having 'dinner ladies' though.

But really dinner is just the biggest meal out of lunch or tea.

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mrfatchance@reddit

Dinner as I’m from London

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Oilfreeeggs@reddit

A hot meal at midday is dinner
A cold meal after 3pm is tea
A hot meal after 3pm is dinner
A cold meal at midday is lunch

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Inevitable-Yard6567@reddit

A big meal in the middle of the day is dinner, a snack is lunch. So if you have lunch then dinner is in the evening ☺️

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UselessDood@reddit

Tea, I'm from Devon.

Dinner is the largest meal of the day, no matter which meal it is.

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Blind_Warthog@reddit

Tea. Dinner ladies work in the middle of the day - that’s when dinner is.

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NotoriousP_U_G@reddit

Awful logic. You bring a lunch box, to eat lunch, on your lunch break. If you go out for a late breakfast, it is brunch not brinner.

A dinner lady, also sometimes called a lunch lady, is the only example you can give

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

No? We brought a dinner box to eat dinner on our dinner break, IF we weren't being served a hot meal by a dinner lady 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm older though so that's maybe why

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NotoriousP_U_G@reddit

A dinner box definitely sounds Victorian

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

Bloody hell I ain't that old 😆😆😆

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Blind_Warthog@reddit

Awful logic? Lighten up you boring bastard.

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Scary_Vehicle9023@reddit

Dinner.

Dinner means main meal of the day. That's why people called the midday meal dinner, because that's when they used to have their main meal. Our eating patterns shifted, so for some of us the word also shifted, but in some places the word stuck.

People often reply with "well, it's still called school dinners." To which I say yeah, but people also say "packed lunch" but never "packed dinner". They also say "brunch", but never "brinner".

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

We always called it 'packed dinner' in a dinnerbox lol

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Scary_Vehicle9023@reddit

Oh really? 😂 I've brought the point up to people before and they said they still used packed lunch. Can't say dinner box and packed dinner roll off the tongue 😆

I presume you still use brunch though?

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

Brunch wasn't something I'd ever heard until probably the 90's and I still don't use it personally

I'd just say 'late breakfast' or 'early dinner' hahaha

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fabulousteaparty@reddit

Dinner is a hot meal in the middle of the day (i.e. sunday dinner at 2pm), lunch is a cold meal in the middle of the day (i.e. a sandwich).

Tea is the evening meal regardless.

I will die on this hill.

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pm_me_your_amphibian@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

However, growing up the mid-day meal was always dinner and evening meal was tea, and I have no idea at which point in my life I switched.

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Late-Champion8678@reddit

Dinner and sometimes, supper. I’m from London.

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KitKat_Ginger@reddit

Dinner for me. Tea is a more northern thing i think

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

I'd say tea was a casual evening meal, dinner is something more proper or eaten out. Supper is the same but late. Lunch is always middle of the day no matter what really.

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luffyuk@reddit

What about Second Dinner?

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Solo-me@reddit

Last meal of the day is snack before bed time for me.... But (as a foreigner) I was thought breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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PsychologicalDish430@reddit

Dinner, hate the phrase "Tea"

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LadyInAllPower@reddit

I just dinner or supper. But not tea. Tea is just tea

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Careless-Living9265@reddit

Tea....Dinner is mid day...normally around 12pm

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WraithOfEvaBraun@reddit

Breakfast > Dinner > Tea

Always been that way, although nowadays (I'm 51) I occasionally call it dinner depending on who I'm with but for me truly, dinnertime is 12 o clock, teatime is 5 onwards

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butterscotchwhip@reddit

Neither, we call it supper. And I don’t mean a post-meal snack, I mean the evening meal itself is called supper. Grew up in Scotland.

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greg225@reddit

Tea if it's in mine or a friend's home. Dinner if it's elsewhere

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thecheesycheeselover@reddit

Dinner. I think of tea as the drink or the afternoon event with scones and crustless sandwiches.

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Jimbob136925@reddit

Dinner is an evening meal. Tea is a pleasant hot beverage enjoyed at any time of day.

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Traditional_Fox2428@reddit

Teatime where we eat dinner. Simple

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cyberalpine@reddit

Dinner here in London

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KillieGirl77@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper. Scotland 😁

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Latte-Addict@reddit

Neither.

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Far_Bad_531@reddit

Tea ….

Breakfast-dinner-tea

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mcmanus2099@reddit

It depends on the meal.

"Dinner" is the main hot meal of the day. The secondary meal of the day will be something smaller, sandwich, soup etc.

Sometimes the main meal is the middle of the day and so Dinner is at lunch. E.g. roast dinner. In which case the evening snacky meal will be "tea" to reflect it's little more that tea and snacks. If the heavy meal is in the evening like a cottage pie after work then it is dinner and the lunch food, e.g. sandwiches are lunch.

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claridgeforking@reddit

Tea when I was younger and eating earlier. Dinner as I've got older and eat later.

Roughly speaking, before 7pm is tea, after 7pm is dinner.

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dreadwitch@reddit

Tea, dinner is the second meal.

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MyDadsGlassesCase@reddit

Tea's a drink, dinner's an evening meal, supper is a snack you have before bed

As a Fifer I grew up with "tea is the evening meal". A tea is the drink, your tea is the meal.

But then I was too lazy to differentiate so I started calling the meal "dinner" and I've never had to explain what I was referring to since

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tinersa@reddit

Saying "Tea" doesn't make any sense

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missuseme@reddit

For the midday meal I'll say either lunch or dinner, for the evening meal I'll say either tea or dinner.

Yes it is confusing I call both dinner.

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Dayzed-n-Confuzed@reddit

It’s also a thing from the Army up to and including WW1. Soldiers had their main meal in the middle of the day and would get hot tea(the drink) with bully beef and biscuits in the evening.

The officers would get a light lunch midday and their Dinners in the evening.

This was carried over to fall and factories as the workers were of that class and the owners were of the officers class

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MelodicAd2213@reddit

I use them interchangeably. Had a northern parent so tea was often used, and if no one was at work or school, weekends and holidays our main meal was in middle of day with lighter meal at tea time.

However if people were coming round for an evening meal that was dinner, not tea. Dinner is the main meal of the day no matter what time served for me, but as it’s eaten at ‘tea time’ I’ll often use tea too.

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Crazy-Condition-8446@reddit

It was dinner growing up. Then when i moved to another region it became Tea. I say Tea because id be looked at funny if i said dinner.

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Visible_Pipe4716@reddit

Dinner, tea is a drink. I will die on this hill.

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Subject_Tap_1346@reddit

in my house, it’s always been tea for the everyday meal we eat around 6 PM, but the second we invite people over or head to a restaurant, it suddenly transforms into dinner, honestly, the best way to settle the debate is just to ask what time they’re eating, because one person’s tea is another person’s supper.

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EatingCoooolo@reddit

Tea to me is a drink. How did we go from dinner/supper to calling a drink a meal?

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StockholmGirl29@reddit

We say "supper". No idea why. My husband is British and I'm Swedish. We say breakfast, lunch and supper although the kids have "tea" at about 5 and we eat later.

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cowbutt6@reddit

I used to use 'tea' when I was a child. Nowadays, I'd only use it to refer specifically to an afternoon tea of sandwiches, cake, savoury bakes, and actual tea.

I generally use 'supper' as the term for my evening meal.

I don't really use 'dinner', except in reference to e.g. 'school dinners'.

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PatserGrey@reddit

A meal at 7pm???

The youngest goes to bed at 7pm. Dinner usually somewhere between 4-6. The next meal is breakfast.

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51onions@reddit

I call it "midnight cheesy pasta"

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Nkhotak@reddit

Supper, because I am posh.

I married beneath me though, so my children use both supper and dinner depending which parent they are talking to. Similarly with sitting/living room. I’m starting to lose the one who now lives in the North, though. If she starts calling the sofa a settee, or a napkin a serviette I might have to cut her off completely.

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Sensitive-Question42@reddit

I use dinner, but grew up with tea.

I grew up with dinner being the midday meal (rather than calling it lunch).

My children are so confused by my mother calling lunch dinner and dinner tea.!

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swiftcardine@reddit

Dinner because it’s dinner. Tea is a drink

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O_C_Demon@reddit

West Yorkshire and it's Tea.

The term "School Dinners" should give away the correct order of meals...

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sv21js@reddit

People who insist there is a “correct” version of something everyone knows to have regional variations really baffle me. We all know that it’s different for different people.

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O_C_Demon@reddit

I was joking mate.

Relax, it's nearly dinner time 👍

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roufnjerry@reddit

Neither, last meal of the day I call supper

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Illustrious-Air-7777@reddit

That’s it! Breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea, supper.

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RetiredFromIT@reddit

Sarah Milligan: "Breakfast, brunch, elevenses, lunch. Afternoon tea, proper tea, dinner, supper. Elevenses."

https://youtube.com/shorts/_LoBGlVHJUE

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Littleleicesterfoxy@reddit

This is the way

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IllustriousSundae607@reddit

Tea. At 5 ISH.

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LaurenNotABot@reddit

Dinner . I’m a southerner

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Iammildlyoffended@reddit

Were northern but between ourselves we agree that if we go out for a meal or host a dinner party it’s “dinner” eating at 5pm with the kids is “tea”

We were brought up saying “dinner” for the midday meal but we’ve at some point slid into saying “lunch”.

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RetiredFromIT@reddit

Southerner, brought up in London.

Generally, tea was the evening meal where us kids ate early, either at the table or in front of the TV. Dinner was when the whole family sat at the table. Note that the lunchtime Sunday roast was also often called Dinner.

Years on, how that applies to me... tea is an evening meal I prepare on a plate or dish, and then take to the sofa to eat, either in front of the TV or reading - often hand-held food or a single spoon or fork. Dinner is when I "plate up" and take it to the dining table, usually more elaborate meals.

This also applies to feeding friends - a friend might come round for fancy sandwiches and cakes, pizza or similar - they would have been invited for tea. A sit down meal with friends will almost always be dinner, unless it is more of a buffet.

It's not something I really think about, except when answering a question like this.

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ellieneagain@reddit

Dinner. We're from Glasgow originally if that makes a difference. It was only tea when cakes were involved. i.e. High Tea.

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LavenderAndHoneybees@reddit

I said tea growing up, now I say dinner, and so does my mum 🤷‍♀️ maybe it's being phased out (North West)

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badger906@reddit

Tea! Was born in the West Country.

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Nonbinary_Cryptid@reddit

When I lived in the Midlands (birth to 23), I had dinner at school and tea at home. Then I moved to the Southeast and joined the lunch in the afternoon, dinner in the evening gang. What didn't change was that the kitchen staff at school are still referred to as dinner ladies, except for the one man who works in the kitchen who my students all call 'Dave'. His name is not Dave.

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Scottish_squirrel@reddit

Tea is a warm beverage served in a mug or cup. Dinner is an evening meal and lunch is served in the middle of the day. It's a hill I will die on. My sister lives in north east England and has switched to using dinner and tea and we have endless debates about it.

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Prudent_Data1780@reddit

(Supper) the last meal

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Tea, possibly followed by supper.

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Healthy_Pilot_6358@reddit

Breakfast-dinner-tea

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EUskeptik@reddit

I’m from the north but have lived most of my life in the south.

My meals are breakfast, lunch and tea.

Dinner was only in my vocabulary at school, and it was the word for lunch. School dinners.

-##-

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jaarn@reddit

Dinner and tea. From North West. We had school dinners.

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Kapika96@reddit

Dinner.

I hate tea.

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Bazahazano@reddit

7 is too late.

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lottiebetts@reddit

I was brought up in Shropshire. My dad was from there my mum from Manchester. I've always used both interchangeably. However, I usually refer to dinner as the main meal, so it could be for a Sunday roast or a main meal served at lunch. You also missed supper, which is more northern.

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

Supper can also be more ‘posh’. Supper is the evening meal at my kids’ boarding schools. Dinner is a more formal evening meal.

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Accomplished-Pen2660@reddit

I've always thought of supper as a posh person's thing. I had a friend who lived pretty much in a stately home who used to say that he was having a kitchen supper at the end of the day

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lottiebetts@reddit

My gran used it and she was brought up in back to back houses in Leeds. She did think she was posh because she had shoes, which a lot of the kids didn't back then, so I am not sure if it's a posh thing. It's not widely used.

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twister-uk@reddit

Talking about supper reminds me of the days when I used to occasionally work out of our office in Shanghai - one of the guys there always referred to the evening meal as supper, and I've never been sure if it was just a case of "lost in translation" or if it was also a cultural thing there, and he'd have still called it whatever the Mandarin equivalent of supper is if he'd been speaking to one of his local colleagues.

As a son of Tyneside who moved south after uni, I hadn't heard the term used in a long time, so to suddenly hear it again also made me realise how much power there can be in a simple word. Didn't make me instantly homesick, but it definitely reminded me just how far away I was from home at that point.

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snarkmaiden5@reddit

We always used tea. Dinner was lunch for us too. Just thought that was what it was.

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Total_Rules@reddit

I use tea/dinner/supper interchangeably.

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VardaElentari86@reddit

This without supper, supper is like some toast before bed if I'm a bit hungry

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

No supper is the main evening meal if it isn’t formal (formal like a dinner party). Supper is just eating with the family on a weeknight evening.

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ChaseboundGames@reddit

Surly super is after tea/dinner like having cereal or cheese and crackers before going upstairs for the night

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Total_Rules@reddit

I’d just say I’m having cereal or cheese and crackers. I don’t need a separate word for it.

Snack works fine as a general term for anything outside the 3 main meals.

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stevee05282@reddit

That's my understanding of supper, 2130 cereal or toast

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ChaseboundGames@reddit

This is the way

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snakeoildriller@reddit

Dindins. Obviously. Sigh.

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Streamliner85@reddit

Wolverhampton here, we say tea as well.

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CicadaSlight7603@reddit

Supper, or dinner if it’s more formal. Tea is something we have at weekends and is a midafternoon cup of tea and cake.

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musicallymotivated93@reddit

Dinner. Tea is a drink.

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Rossmci90@reddit

Midday meal is Lunch/Dinner and evening meal is Dinner/Tea.

I use them pretty much interchangeably.

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Boomalla@reddit

I’ve always called it tea time.

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hdhxuxufxufufiffif@reddit

I use lunch or dinner for my midday-ish meal and dinner or tea for my evening meal. Dinner is the main meal of the day at either time and for me has to be hot.

So yesterday I had a big hot meal at lunchtime and a sandwich in the evening and it was breakfast, dinner, tea.

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Kvark33@reddit

Meals go breakfast lunch and dinner. Tea is a drink, or afternoon tea, which is tea with snacks.

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wherethefeckarewe@reddit

Breakfast/Lunch/Tea

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lawrekat63@reddit

Tea if at home but I go out to dinner

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toonmad@reddit

Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper is what I've always known it as

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pxl8d@reddit

I switch between tea, dinner and supper randomly all for the evening meal! Have lived both north and south so am confused lil

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DucksAreFriends@reddit

I believe it technically goes: Breakfast => Lunch => Tea.

But whichever one of those is the largest meal of the day gets renamed "dinner".

So if the largest meal you have today is at lunch, then technically that was dinner and later you'd have tea. I think the reason tea is often simply called dinner is because it is so often the largest meal of the day

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Nosworthy@reddit

Breakfast, Dinner, Tea

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Euphoric-Wall-2576@reddit

When I was a child, me and my siblings would have "tea" early (like 5pm or so) and my parents would have "dinner" later after we went to bed. When we were old enough to stay up later and eating with them instead, it became "dinner". So it's been dinner ever since.

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Good-Gur-7742@reddit

My family has always called it supper. Breakfast, lunch, tea, supper. And yes, I was brought up with formal tea in the drawing room every day at 3pm.

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spanakopita555@reddit

Growing up in London we always said breakfast, lunch and tea (although school lunch was school dinner...).

Now I use tea and dinner interchangeably for evening meal because I realised most other people at university and in my adul life more generally were using it and didn't understand what I meant by 'tea'. Especially for non-natives, it's confusing.

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SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit

Supper, I'm Scottish.

I say breakfast, lunch and supper.

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ams3000@reddit

Supper is last meal of the day around 10 (toast) but dinner is what we eat at 7. Tea is a drink in our house. I am from NW England

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Wild_Region_7853@reddit

Interchangeable BUT lunch is always lunch. My mum is from Lincoln and she calls the middle of the day meal dinner which confuses the shit out of me.

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gxb20@reddit

Tea, dinner or supper. My family are a bit all over the place

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Empty_Estus@reddit

Dinner it we’re going out for it, tea if we’re eating at home. I am Northern though.

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Few_House_5201@reddit

I grew up in the south east so call it dinner. Wife is from north west and calls it tea.

Kids use both really.

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Bksudbjdua@reddit

To me dinner time is 5.30pm even though most days I don't eat till after 6. I used tea to mean dinner if I'm feeling especially "northern" (which is funny as I live more north than my northern neighbours)

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nali_cow@reddit

Yawn

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Last_Negotiation4073@reddit

We say supper.

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Lanesra8989@reddit

Supper or Dinner

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indigo263@reddit

It's breakfast, dinner, and tea for me, unless I'm going out for it in which case it's going out for lunch (dinner) and going out for dinner (tea). I don't quite understand the logic but it's how I've always known it, so that is how it is!

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Fabulous_Coast_8108@reddit

Both

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ButtercupBento@reddit

Same.

Dinner is the big meal and the other is lunch or tea depending whether it’s closer to midday or 6pm

Parents for up north. I grew up down south.

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Vast-Slip-@reddit

Breakfast, dinner, tea.

What were the staff called during your midday break you have at school? Dinnerlady.

If you said lunchlady you'd be asked to go back to America. This is my supporting argument.

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New_Cap3283@reddit

Welshie here. Welsh mother Mancunian Father. We say breakfast dinner tea. A rare cheese and crackers or something after dinner would be supper

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GooseyDuckDuck@reddit

Both, interchangeably.

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coco-kiki@reddit

Was supper at school, dinner at uni onwards. Not sure why it switched tbh

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AnneKnightley@reddit

It’s largely regional - for me tea is the evening meal with a light snack after being supper. Dinner is hot meals so we used it for school lunchtime dinners.

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Dazz316@reddit

Either, but dinner or supper primarily.

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Claire4Win@reddit

Northern (rochdale).

They are interchangeable. I have called it tea and dinner

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Spikeymikey5050@reddit

The evening meal is “tea”

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No-Winner8975@reddit

Tea, obviously.

Dinner is at dinner time (the afternoon) you all had Dinner ladies at school right? They didn't come home with you to cook your evening meal

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Avox0976@reddit

Dinner

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Japhet_Corncrake@reddit

It varies a bit. Whichever one comes into my head first. My mum used to call it tea, my wife calls it dinner.

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Tonybeetswannabe@reddit

Those women at school were called DINNER ladies not LUNCH ladies

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HighNimpact@reddit

You do realise that, for a huge number of people, they were called “lunch ladies”, right?

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Unlikely_Egg@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

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Fine-Huckleberry4165@reddit

Yes.

However my mother-in-law calls it supper.

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ZootedJA@reddit

Dinner, west midlands

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CoconutBandita@reddit

Supper.

Breakfast. Lunch. Tea. Supper.

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Scared-One9295@reddit

Having moved from the South to the North with a young child, it used to be dinner but is now tea. At first so as to not confuse him because his preschool calls it tea, but now because he tells me off if I ever get it wrong. I'm 39, I don't have the neuroplasticity for this!

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MelodicPreparation93@reddit

I use both to be honest! Grew up in Cornwall with it always being Tea though

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TheMasalaKnight@reddit

Dinner always, Tea is a drink. I’m from the Midlands. That said, if someone offered me tea and brought me pie and chips I still wouldn’t turn it down (and also Indian, if we say tea/cha we mean the drink)

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74jax@reddit

🌟 Breakfast 🌟 Brunch - just before lunch, or get off alcohol included... 🤣 🌟 Lunch 🌟 Afternoon tea - tea, sandwiches, CAKE 🌟 Dinner 🌟 Supper - just before bed if still hungry

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Pixie_and_kitties@reddit

I definitely go for the hobbit approach of they're all perfectly valid separate meals. Elevnses as well!

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t0b9@reddit

Tea for evening meal. Dinner for lunch (school dinners/Christmas dinner)

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Icy-Belt-8519@reddit

Dinner, but I use to use tea, I grew up in the midlands

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Specialist_-Berry@reddit

'The last dinner' or 'the last tea'? No, the last supper

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blacklig@reddit

Dinner. But, I am an immigrant from the US and also live in the south so..

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MadWifeUK@reddit

Surely the last meal of the day is Midnight Snack?

From NI, I use the words lunch, dinner or tea to describe the meal.

A dinner is a warm, substantial meal, the main meal of the day. You can have that in the middle of the day or in the evening. This is the meal you have your potatoes with.

If you have a dinner in the middle of the day, you won't have another big meal in the evening. A tea is a light evening meal; a sandwich, beans on toast, etc. Basically no potatoes.

A lunch is usually cold, sandwiches or salad, and enough to keep you going but not your main meal of the day. Again, no potatoes with this one, (although crisps are usually part of it).

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SowwieWhopper@reddit

I’d normally say “what’re we having for tea?” And then to call everyone in will say “dinners ready”. From the north

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mk6971@reddit

Both

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NecroVelcro@reddit

I call it tea.

Why have you capitalised "Tea" and "Dinner"? They aren't proper nouns. There shouldn't be a comma after *tea, either.

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nrsys@reddit

Breakfast is in the morning. Lunch is around midday. Tea is the evening meal.

Dinner is the main meal of the day, which may be eaten at either midday or for the evening meal depending on your preference/practicality.

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Rhesus-Positive@reddit

Grew up in the south with one northern parent and one southern one, then moved to Yorkshire

I use both interchangeably with no rhyme or reason

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ContextRules@reddit

I use tea to describe the meal I eat when I get home from work. Whatever time that happens to be. Oddly, i dont think I use the word dinner except when I am making plans to eat out at night.

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Foos_Yer_Doos_@reddit

Breakfast / Dinner / Supper

I’m from Aberdeen.

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marquee-smith@reddit

If you are from the north then dinner is lunch time

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JohnLef@reddit

You have tea at home, but go out for dinner.

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Robynellawque@reddit

Breakfast , dinner and tea and supper if we want some .

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CommunicationOk3272@reddit

Supper. I’m from the south. It’s quite regional and some people I know say dinner. I also say roll rather than bap or balm. I also consume scones the Devon way.

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terryturbojr@reddit

Bi lingual, happy with both

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Key_Produce2617@reddit

Tea

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Difficult_Spot_1718@reddit

Both, my mum always called it dinner and tea but over time I also use lunch and dinner. Not sure why but I just use them both!

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brorow1@reddit

I'm from the north and I call it dinner and dinner. Hahaha

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ThePineappleSeahorse@reddit

Always dinner. I’m from Glasgow.

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Imaginary-Giraffe301@reddit

Interchangeable.

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SheriffOfNothing@reddit

If it’s a hot meal at any time of day other than breakfast, it’s dinner. If it’s a cold meal, such as sandwiches, mid day it’s lunch and in the evening it’s tea.

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Horror-Meat958@reddit

I have my dinner at tea time 🤔

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deppyjon@reddit

Dinner

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Logical_Strain_6165@reddit

Tea if after work, but if I was going out I'd talk about dinner.

But I'm a Southener who has spent most of their adult life up North. But outside school and Sundays I don't remember many people calling lunch Dinner.

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Virtuous-Patience@reddit

Supper!

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Electronic-Fennel828@reddit

Tea always refers to last meal of the day, dinner can be used for either mid day meal or end of day meal interchangeably. There’s no rhyme or reason to it for me, I used to be the kind of person that only said “breakfast, dinner, tea” but I married a southerner.

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PastLanguage4066@reddit

Sorry for you loss (of northerness).

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Proud_Ad_8915@reddit

If I have one then it's supper.

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DannyGre@reddit

both. Tea is casual, Dinner is more formal version with other people rather than me just raiding the fridge and microwaving/air frying something.

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et-in-arcadia-@reddit

Anything but supper, which sounds ridiculously affected to my ears

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MintBerryFondue@reddit

Tea.

South Wales here.

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yesterdaysomelette22@reddit

Tea. Breakfast, dinner and tea. In that order.

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GuzziHero@reddit

Tea, from Stoke but parents were from Manchester and Cheshire

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m1nkeh@reddit

Dinner, for sure.

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CranberryCheese1997@reddit

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tea is a liquid, you drink it, not eat it.

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Eggtastico@reddit

Breakfast / Dinner / Tea

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Own_Professor_8924@reddit

It’s tea if you’re not a southern softy 😁

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Fun-Yam2210@reddit

Supper. I’m not common.

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gemmajenkins2890@reddit

I say tea. I have heard people say dinner, then use the term dinner time to mean lunch time? Like, what?

So I don’t use dinner as I have no idea when it’s supposed to be lol

For me it’s breakfast, lunch and tea

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Specialist_Emu7274@reddit

Dinner or I’m feeling particularly fancy supper.

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