Dinner or Supper? I Thought It Depended Where You Grew Up…

Did or do you say dinner or supper when referring to the evening meal?  And what is the correct version?  I always thought, while growing up, that it depended on where, or how you grew up.  Like if you were raised in the city you would probably be more prone to saying "dinner" and if you were raised in the country the evening meal would be "supper".  But that is really not the case.. at least not originally. 

Originally Dinner referred to the largest meal of the day.  And at the time this was happening, the meal in the middle of the day was dinner.  But apparently that could have been the middle of the day or the last meal of the day.  Dinner didn't actually refer to the meal as much as the time of day that it was eaten.  Supper always referred to the last meal of the day, which was also generally a lighter meal.

As time has gone on, Dinner and Supper have become somewhat interchangeable.  And also regional.  So people here, in the Midwest, mostly  refer to the evening meal as Supper.  But if you say Dinner, people will generally know what you mean.  Unless they are totally old school.

Let's go for Dinner at the Supper club.  Hmmmm....  that's a conundrum.