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In the 21st century, generally would we still say we have both supper and dinner along with lunch on the same day?

I live in Seychelles and the eating habit here is breakfast-lunch-heavy dinner. Even when you offer a light supper, they say they'll wait for the dinner.

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
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Ninette
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    lunch-vs-dinner-vs-supper-times-and-meanings http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/22446/lunch-vs-dinner-vs-supper-times-and-meanings – mahmud k pukayoor Mar 28 '17 at 07:45
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    Is this a question about eating habits? People do not generally say "I murdered my wife", but it is perfectly good English.. – davidlol Mar 28 '17 at 07:48
  • Yes Davidol, it does have a lot to do with eating habits. I live in Seychelles and the eating habit here is breakfast-lunch-heavy dinner. Even when you offer a light supper, they say they'll wait for the dinner. Which is the reason for my question. – Ninette Mar 28 '17 at 07:57
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    In the UK, it's very much a cultural thing whether you say "lunch and dinner" or "dinner and tea". "Supper" isn't a widely used term. – Kate Bunting Mar 28 '17 at 07:57
  • I think the most usual practice is to have three meals a day , including breakfast. – davidlol Mar 28 '17 at 08:05
  • As noted above it's a cultural thing. In BrE dinner/tea for the evening meal depends on the region, you have tea then you'll have dinner at lunchtime. "Supper" (in my experience only) is a more middle-class thing. – Mike C Mar 28 '17 at 08:09
  • 'Supper' can mean a snack at bedtime as well as a meal proper. I grew up with breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. Supper would typically be a hot milk drink and a sweet biscuit, but could extend to crackers and cheese. I understand this to be a north of England habit. Although I grew up in Scotland my parents were Lancastrian, our neighbours from Yorkshire shared the habit and terminology. – Spagirl Mar 28 '17 at 08:45
  • Ninette, you'd be better off adding the reason for your question in your question, instead of in a comment below your question. Most sites on the Stack Exchange are looking for a detailed, well-thought-out question, not one with scant details that leave us scratching our collective heads wondering what you are getting at. Generally speaking, the more details the better. – J.R. Mar 28 '17 at 09:14
  • Very well J.R. will keep that in mind and my next question will be detailed. – Ninette Mar 28 '17 at 09:34
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    In the US, the choice of terminology for meals is highly dependent on local culture, social status, and family history. You can't really generalize. – Hot Licks Mar 28 '17 at 12:02
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    @HotLicks Really? I have never encountered anything except "breakfast [morning], lunch [noon/afternoon], dinner [evening]" here, with "supper" an infrequent synonym for "dinner" without a change in meaning or time. I don't know anyone who "takes tea" meaning to eat rather than drink tea, and I've never heard of an established late-night/bedtime meal, as spagirl describes her supper. What she describes would be a called "bedtime snack" but I don't know anyone who takes it regularly and with family. What other widespread practices in the US are you aware of? – Dan Bron Mar 28 '17 at 12:08
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    @DanBron - There are many, many people in rural parts of the US to whom "dinner" is the midday meal. And I've encountered a number of other terminologies. – Hot Licks Mar 28 '17 at 12:15
  • My experience: breakfast refers to the 1st "scheduled" meal of the day, usually eaten soon after awakening. Lunch is the middle meal of the day, usually around mid-day, usually not as heavy a meal as "dinner". If breakfast & lunch are purposely combined, it's called brunch. Dinner and supper are used interchangeably for the last major meal of the day, usually eaten late afternoon to late evening but many hours before bedtime, usually the heaviest meal of the day. The times of day are flexible, the terms refer to the customary sequence rather than time of day. (cont'd) – fixer1234 Mar 28 '17 at 14:27
  • People skip one or more of the customarily scheduled meals without changing the names of the other meals. There are collections of foods typically associated with each meal, but the content of the meal doesn't affect what it's called. Small meals at other times of day, like between when lunch and dinner would normally be, or between dinnertime and bedtime, are called snacks. "Tea" is not a term commonly used in the US to refer to a meal. – fixer1234 Mar 28 '17 at 14:27
  • Like I said, it's customary in some rural areas of the US to refer to the midday meal as "dinner" and the evening meal as "supper". Typically this is in agricultural areas where a fairly large midday meal is served, to break up the workday, and often the meal is a multi-family affair, or is served to "hired hands" as well as family. Of course in other areas the midday meal is a quick catch-whatever-you-can affair. Depends on the culture and, to a degree, the type of work being done. (But the term "dinner" tends to be applied to the larger meal, regardless.) – Hot Licks Mar 28 '17 at 17:15
  • (But in our family where the father was a lawyer who worked in an office in town the big meal was in the evening and was called supper -- no "dinner".) – Hot Licks Mar 28 '17 at 17:18

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