rastahomie
Registered
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2010
In this thread, my use of the word "lunch" to describe the mid-day meal and "supper" to describe the evening meal has caused some amusement. So let's talk.
First, English is an ambiguous language. Don't believe me? You have nephews and nieces, and brothers and sisters. But do you have gender-specific terms for your cousins? No, you don't. Because English is ambiguous.
Second, on different sides of The Pond, on different sides of the northern border, and even on different sides of state lines, we use English differently. Don't believe me? Go to a grocery store in Boston, where the shoppers push around "buggies," while in Chicago or Kansas City they're "carts," and in Manchester or Leeds they're... prams?
So anyway, lunch, dinner, and supper: I was brought up in the Midwest (central Illinois), and the terms "lunch" and "dinner" were used interchangeably, as were the terms "dinner" and "supper." It all depended on context.
But as a man who gets paid for using words properly, ambiguity is contra-indicated. So I just say "lunch" and "supper."
What say you, DISers?
First, English is an ambiguous language. Don't believe me? You have nephews and nieces, and brothers and sisters. But do you have gender-specific terms for your cousins? No, you don't. Because English is ambiguous.
Second, on different sides of The Pond, on different sides of the northern border, and even on different sides of state lines, we use English differently. Don't believe me? Go to a grocery store in Boston, where the shoppers push around "buggies," while in Chicago or Kansas City they're "carts," and in Manchester or Leeds they're... prams?
So anyway, lunch, dinner, and supper: I was brought up in the Midwest (central Illinois), and the terms "lunch" and "dinner" were used interchangeably, as were the terms "dinner" and "supper." It all depended on context.
But as a man who gets paid for using words properly, ambiguity is contra-indicated. So I just say "lunch" and "supper."
What say you, DISers?
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