Dinner, tea or supper - which is correct? The answer is – they all are. Dinner, tea and supper have all come to mean an evening meal for different Brits in different ways and most of us have an understanding that this is what these names can mean.
It's usage has nothing to do with being lower class for I attended a private school and was taught that the three meals of the day were breakfast, lunch and dinner and there were two snacks known as morning and afternoon tea. So that's the usage of the word in Brisbane.
Dinner and supper are both used to refer to the main meal of the day, and especially to that meal as eaten in the evening. Supper is used especially when the meal is an informal one eaten at home, while dinner tends to be the term chosen when the meal is more formal.
However, in Australia, dinner would be referred to as the main evening meal, and supper would be snacks and food eaten later in the evening; which the US citizens would call a late night snack.
The modern usage of "supper" varies considerably; sometimes supper is still used to describe a light snack or meal in the evening, either after or instead of dinner, but often it replaces dinner as the term for the main evening meal.
Some people in Britain and Australia refer to their main evening meal as "tea" rather than "dinner" or "supper", but generally, with the exception of Scotland and Northern England, "tea" refers to a light meal or a snack.
"Supper" became "dinner" because evenings became the only time working class families were able to gather for a meal. In this day and age when someone invites you over to eat, you can safely assume that "lunch" means midday and "dinner" means to arrive in the evening.
Australians eat their meals earlier than usual, especially in the recent years so as to spen more time with family after dinner, as per reports. Most restaurants are the busiest in service between 6pm to 7pm, but are open till later.
Tea means dinner. For example, your Australian friend might ask you, “Wanna come around for tea at 6?” Your friend isn't inviting you over to his place just to drink a cup of tea, he means dinner.
Tips for pronouncing and listening to Aussie Slang
It is common for Australian's to pronounce the –er at the end of a word as –a. For example, you may have heard Australians pronounce the word dinner as dinna. Keep this in mind when listening to Australians, especially the locals that have strong accents.
Regionally it appeared that supper was used most in the Midwest and the South. Another of my friends provided this bit of background, “Dinner is considered to be the 'main' or largest meal of the day, whether it takes place at noon or in the evening. Supper is more specifically a lighter evening meal.
Today, you might notice that the term “supper” is more commonly used in Southern and Midwestern states, probably due to those regions having a greater reliance on agriculture than Northern states and thus having more ancestors who were farmers.
The answer has changed over time as the ways people earn their living have changed. Up until the mid-1800s, dinner referred to a midday meal, while supper served as a light evening meal for those needing additional nutrition after a hard day's work.
And in a nutshell, 'high tea' is not the same as the afternoon tea that we now all know and love. It consists of a more substantial meal served at the dinner table and eaten later in the day. While many people in Britain today refer to this meal as 'supper' or 'dinner', in many homes, it's still referred to as 'tea'.
Cuppa - a cup of tea or coffer 'Drop by this arvo for a cuppa' means please come and visit this afternoon for a cup of tea or coffee.
Across England as a whole, the majority (57%) call it “dinner”, while just over a third (36%) opt for “tea”. The remainder either call it something else (including 5% who say “supper”) or answered “don't know”. However, despite dinner's overall victory, the data shows there are clear geographical differences.
5. Sheila = Girl. Yes, that is the Australian slang for girl.
From Mum's shepherd's pie to creamy garlic prawns to hearty beef rissoles, nothing says classic Aussie dinners quite like these.
It's "good evening", or the non-time specific "g'day". Contributor's comments: I grew up in Brisbane, and have never, heard 'Goodnight' as a greeting.
Typically people eat dinner between 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM. Dinner time fifty years ago people ate between 5:00 PM and 6:30PM but now due to work and commuting schedules dinner time for many of us has shifted to eating later.
The ideal time to eat dinner appears to align with your circadian rhythm and allow your body time to adequately digest food before laying down for sleep. This typically means eating dinner at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime. It may be especially helpful for people who want to: lose weight.
In 18th-century London, supper was posh: an insubstantial final snack eaten by the upper classes long after dinner – cold beef and punch, perhaps, nibbled to sate the appetite before bed.
English speakers use supper and dinner interchangeably to mean “evening meal.” However, the word supper is more common for British English and traditionally infers a lighter evening meal that occurs after an early dinner.
“High” tea. “High” tea is actually dinner but has also come to mean a lavish afternoon tea. In the past, high tea was an alternative to afternoon tea. It combined snacks and a hearty meal and was usually served at about 6pm.