In a comment on Melanie’s blog Tommy mentioned “supper.” I’ve never been able to quite discern the meaning of the word “supper,” and I’ve just realized that it’s because everybody uses it to mean something different. According to wikipedia the word “supper” has a bunch of slightly different meanings depending on who you ask or where you are. Here are the possibilities:
- A meal that comes after dinner
- An informal, earlier version of dinner
- A snack or dessert that comes some time after (but I guess not immediately after)
- A synonym for dinner
And if that isn’t enough: “In the (rural American) south also, dinner can be used to describe the meal at around 11:00 a.m., while supper is used to denote the evening meal.”