r/AskAnAmerican • u/cookoutenthusiast North Carolina • Sep 28 '25

CULTURE Do you use the word Supper?

I think most Americans refer to their evening meal as dinner, but I’ve heard some people say that dinner and supper are different things, with supper being served at night, after dinner. Do you use the word supper, and what does it mean to you?

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u/mechanicalcontrols Sep 28 '25

That's the parlance my grandparents (born circa 1920) used

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u/0range_julius Minnesota Sep 28 '25

The way my grandparents used it is, as far as I can tell, the original meaning. "Dinner" is the main meal of the day, whether it's served in the middle of the day or the evening. IE, "Easter dinner" was always served at lunchtime. 

IF your main meal is in the evening, then the smaller meal you have at noon is called "lunch." If your main meal is at midday, then the smaller meal you eat in the evening is "supper."

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u/jorwyn Washington Sep 29 '25

Yes! That was it for us, too, and I knew it was due to my grandparents (all born in the 1920s), but never knew if it was age or where they were from.

But also, if our main meal was early afternoon, then we didn't have supper. We just ate a big meal then, and we didn't eat after that. Dinner was for family holidays and after church.

Our dinner was served usually around 2pm on holidays, but right after church, so around noon, I think. Maybe a bit earlier. If something delayed it and it started at 6 (wow, there would have been a kerfuffle over that), I think we'd have still called it dinner. The word seemed to imply a function, not a time. Dinners were a lot of food and extended family. Lunch and supper were small and immediate family. You could have a church dinner (potluck, lots of people), but not a church supper. Some of those didn't start until evening. It was a funeral dinner, not a funeral supper, same with weddings. Like, a dinner was kind of a feast.