The terminology around eating in the UK is still confusing. For some "lunch" is "dinner" and vice versa. From the Roman times to the Middle Ages everyone ate in the middle of the day, but it was called dinner and was the main meal of the day. Lunch as we know it didn't exist - not even the word.
This differentiation in usage is one of the classic social markers of British English (see U and non-U English). However, in most of the South of England, the midday meal is "lunch", with "dinner" being the evening meal, regardless of social class.
If the meal you eat in the middle of the day is your main meal then it can be called either lunch or dinner. There is a tradition among some Australians to have a large family meal at lunch time on Sunday. It is often called Sunday dinner.
In the early, to mid-17th century, the meal could be any time between late morning and mid-afternoon. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, this meal was gradually pushed back into the evening, creating a greater time gap between breakfast and dinner. A meal called lunch came to fill the gap.
People in the north or who are from good working stock are more likely to have dinner at midday and tea in the evening. High tea or Afternoon tea was something invented by the Victorian upper classes to bridge the enormous gap between lunch and dinner.
In the past, high tea was an alternative to afternoon tea. ... This eventually evolved into the lower classes calling their midday meal “dinner” and their evening meal “tea”, while the upper classes called their midday meal “lunch” and referred to the evening meal as “dinner.
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.
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.
New YouGov analysis among more than 42,000 English people reveals the real North/South divide: what people call their main evening meal. Across England as a whole, the majority (57%) call it “dinner”, while just over a third (36%) opt for “tea”.
Morning After Noon
In London, by the 1730s and 40s, the upper class nobles and gentry were dining at three or four in the afternoon, and by 1770 their dinner hour in London was four or five.
The beauty of brekkie is in its simplicity and lack of fanfare. Organic, responsibly-grown, and thoughtfully prepared food is just the norm for Aussies.
brekkie – breakfast
Although it sounds like breakfast for kids, brekkie is the Australian meal everyone has in the morning.
Brekky: the first and most important meal of the day, Aussies call breakfast 'brekky'.
Breakfast: This is also called brekkie by some but not common. Breakfast is usually the same everywhere though the contents of breakfast will vary hugely. Both Britain and Ireland are famous for their cooked breakfast which is known as "full" or "cooked" breakfast.
Up until the start of the 20th century, the main meal was what we now refer to as "lunch," which was formerly called "dinner" because that was when Americans ate the largest meal featuring multiple courses, grand portion sizes or both. The evening meal was called "supper," which was much lighter and more informal.
Dinner (sometimes called Supper) - The main meal. Eaten anytime between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m. (Evening meal)
“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.
More than half of middle class northerners call the evening meal “tea”, alongside 67 per cent of the northern working class.
Traditionally, Afternoon Tea is served around 4 pm. It was not created to replace dinner but rather to fill the gap between an early lunch and a late dinner. Small sandwiches, scones, biscuits, and tea were typically on small ornamental three-tier serving trays.
The distinction between dinner and supper was common in North American farming communities into the twentieth century, especially in the Mid-West and the American South, though today, most Americans consider the two synonyms and strongly prefer the term dinner for the evening meal.
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.
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.
Here in Australia, however, McDonald's most prevalent nickname is “Macca's”. A recent branding survey commissioned by McDonald's Australia found that 55 per cent of Australians refer to the company by its local slang name.
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.
Arvo – Afternoon (S'Arvo – this afternoon!)