Do you refer to the evening meal as "supper" or "dinner"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"My mom gets really upset that we do not eat in the dining room every night (mostly eat at breakfast bar in kitchen as it seats 4) and that we don't use cloth napkins or china plates every night."

My mother taught me that only the help or poor people eat in the kitchen.

All of this insight totally explains DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Another one: IN-surance instead of insurance. NEVER understood THAT one! Or two-deee or yisterdeee or TOOSdeee instead today or yesterday to Tuesday. WHO talks like that? WTH?

It has to be regional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My mom gets really upset that we do not eat in the dining room every night (mostly eat at breakfast bar in kitchen as it seats 4) and that we don't use cloth napkins or china plates every night."

My mother taught me that only the help or poor people eat in the kitchen.

All of this insight totally explains DCUM.

First poster in chain here. Did you not realize how much more prevalent class distinctions were in past generations? My mother is always saying what is (was) low class and I just listen and then do what I want. She is in her 70s and it was a different world back then. My grandmothers were even more so.

in past generations, It was not as easy to move between classes, it didn't always have to do with money, and you couldn't research things on the Internet to find out how other people did things. There also wasn't as easily accessible media- tv and movies have led to us all acting more similarly. Class distinction are much less prevalent these days because most everyone has access to everything and its much harder to be oblivious of others' SES social norms. Also, few folks have full time, live in, household help anymore (which served to highlight class distinctions like who eats where) because now most everyone has machines, like dishwashers and washing machines, and services, like dry cleaning and pea pod, to handle all those old fashioned tasks for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My mom gets really upset that we do not eat in the dining room every night (mostly eat at breakfast bar in kitchen as it seats 4) and that we don't use cloth napkins or china plates every night."

My mother taught me that only the help or poor people eat in the kitchen.

All of this insight totally explains DCUM.

First poster in chain here. Did you not realize how much more prevalent class distinctions were in past generations? My mother is always saying what is (was) low class and I just listen and then do what I want. She is in her 70s and it was a different world back then. My grandmothers were even more so.

in past generations, It was not as easy to move between classes, it didn't always have to do with money, and you couldn't research things on the Internet to find out how other people did things. There also wasn't as easily accessible media- tv and movies have led to us all acting more similarly. Class distinction are much less prevalent these days because most everyone has access to everything and its much harder to be oblivious of others' SES social norms. Also, few folks have full time, live in, household help anymore (which served to highlight class distinctions like who eats where) because now most everyone has machines, like dishwashers and washing machines, and services, like dry cleaning and pea pod, to handle all those old fashioned tasks for you.

Oh, and of course poor people and the help ate in the kitchen because they didn't have dining rooms in their own small houses or tenement apartments and help didnt eat with the household in the dining room. Now everyone, all houses and all apartments have some style of dining room and help doesn't generally live in except in the very, very wealthiest households ( other than nannies).

[Anonymous]

In Oregon we called it Grub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another one: IN-surance instead of insurance. NEVER understood THAT one! Or two-deee or yisterdeee or TOOSdeee instead today or yesterday to Tuesday. WHO talks like that? WTH?

It has to be regional.

You've never heard of regional accents?

[Anonymous]

Isn't "supper" a British word?

[Anonymous]

Supper. Grew up in Louisiana; parents from Texas.

I think it's regional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loved my southern college boyfriend who would ask what kind of Coke I wanted. It was all Coke.

DH is from NY, near manhattan, and calls oatmeal porridge. Who says that?! Besides Goldie Locks.

My father calls oatmeal porridge!! His mother was English. Maybe it's an English thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can top that (for outdated sayings). My grandmother referred to the refrigerator as "ice box" (it was once a container that held a square chunk of ice) and purses were always "pocket-bags". Love it. Wore a girdle and hose until the day she died (97).

Mother in law called the microwave, "the radar range" and sometimes called the car, "a machine." (Along with all those other old lady words like pocketbook, icebox, market, dungarees, luncheon, parlor, galoshes, and the front stoop.). Oh, and "Bully for you!"

I say pocketbook, market, luncheon, parlor, galoshes and front stoop.

Well, Bully for you ole gal! But I don't believe you say those words in context if you are under 60. Nobody even has a parlor anymore. We now have media rooms. Of course, MIL still said we played "parlor games" in there. And luncheon? Everybody shortens that to lunch these days (except for the formal office meal). I suppose you have a lunch pail, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can top that (for outdated sayings). My grandmother referred to the refrigerator as "ice box" (it was once a container that held a square chunk of ice) and purses were always "pocket-bags". Love it. Wore a girdle and hose until the day she died (97).

OH MY.I forgot, my mom calls her purse her pocketbook. Not bag, but book. At least your grandma's version makes sense!

Actually, you are correct. I had it wrong. She DID call it a pocketbook. I have no idea why!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can top that (for outdated sayings). My grandmother referred to the refrigerator as "ice box" (it was once a container that held a square chunk of ice) and purses were always "pocket-bags". Love it. Wore a girdle and hose until the day she died (97).

Mother in law called the microwave, "the radar range" and sometimes called the car, "a machine." (Along with all those other old lady words like pocketbook, icebox, market, dungarees, luncheon, parlor, galoshes, and the front stoop.). Oh, and "Bully for you!"

I say pocketbook, market, luncheon, parlor, galoshes and front stoop.

Well, Bully for you ole gal! But I don't believe you say those words in context if you are under 60. Nobody even has a parlor anymore. We now have media rooms. Of course, MIL still said we played "parlor games" in there. And luncheon? Everybody shortens that to lunch these days (except for the formal office meal). I suppose you have a lunch pail, too.

Oh, in context, and I'm under 40. A lot of it has to do with how many different places I have lived. Born in Illinois, lived in TX, OH, MA, NY, CT, VA, MD, GA WI and the UK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I never understood why anyone would say "ant" when it is spelled a-u-n-t. Makes no sense.

Brit poster, me too!

I don't know either but everyone in my family (west coast) said "ANT" as opposed to AHHHHNT. So to my ears the latter sounds affected. But it's correct, right? I should be teaching my children AHHHNNT, correct.

[Anonymous]

Dinner- Texas

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


I don't know either but everyone in my family (west coast) said "ANT" as opposed to AHHHHNT. So to my ears the latter sounds affected. But it's correct, right? I should be teaching my children AHHHNNT, correct.

It's a regional thing. "Ont" is New England, and even the least-swank people there say it.

Either is correct. (And you should be pronouncing that EYEther )