Did you have dinner or supper?

“Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.” Sherlock Holmes.

Although we now use the words dinner and supper interchangeably to mean the same thing, our largest meal of the day. It has not always been as such.
Well, at least in certain cultures.

Most of us have grown up in a society that now runs on three meals a day; breakfast, lunch and dinner.
At least that is the way my family has always done it.

Breakfast, usually oatmeal or cereal (with bacon and eggs on weekends). 

Lunch, what ever mom packed for school or the lunch ladies cooked.

And dinner, when dad got home from work, and our biggest meal of the day.

I don't remember us ever having a distinction between the use of the words dinner or supper, although I seem to have been called to more 'dinner times' than 'supper times'.

For much of the English speaking world dinner is the biggest meal of the day, usually taken sometime between noon and early evening.

Even the now traditional Sunday Roast is sometimes called Sunday Dinner or Roast Dinner.
In the USA we usually eat our Thanksgiving or Christmas meals early in the afternoon and they are usually referred to as Thanksgiving Dinner or Christmas Dinner.

And supper would be a lighter meal taken later in the evening. The etymology of supper is usually seen to come from some form of soup. Which would suggest a light meal.

For much of it's modern history the time of 'dinner' seemed to keep getting pushed back, until what had been a meal taken at two or three in the afternoon, to now easily taking place much later, at say six or seven. One survey by an Australian winemaker found that the average time in the UK for the evening meal is now about 7:47 pm.

Throw into the mix 'Tea Time' and what time that could take place, and what is served with 'Tea Time' and it can get real confusing.
Where I have always assumed 'Tea Time' was at 4pm, source suggest it can also be taken some time between 5 and 7.

It is associated with the working class and is typically eaten between 5 pm and 7 pm. In the North of England, North and South Wales, the English Midlands, Scotland and in rural and working class areas of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, people traditionally call their midday meal dinner and their evening meal tea(served around 6 pm), whereas the upper social classes would call the midday meal lunch or luncheon and the evening meal (served after 7 pm) dinner (if formal) or supper (if informal). Source 

So, with all that said, there doesn't seem to be any firm set rules of when you call what, it just depends on where you grow up.

With that said; what prompted this inquiry was when Sherlock Holmes says, “Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop.”

And then a few minutes later Holmes and Watson have the following exchange; “It is quite certain that he knows nothing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?” 
“Not particularly.” 
“Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow up this clue while it is still hot.'

This suggests that, one; dinner was going to be Holmes big meal of the day. Two; it was going to be rather late, seven. And three; super would be a very late, a much lighter meal (maybe cold woodcock sandwiches?).

We must also remember that this habit of assigning times to meals can also be considered an industrial age habit and mostly, as suggested, a middle and upper class tradition. Poor countries and rural workers were more likely to take the meals when time and abundance allowed.

These are the Canonical discussion that made me wonder how we use the words dinner and supper.

BLUE ends with Holmes saying to Watson, "If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief feature.”

So, we know their little expedition didn't even start till at least seven. Probably took at least an hour or so. So supper was sometime after 8 or 9pm.

I hope Mrs. Hudson wasn't keeping things warm all that time.

At this point in the story I see an image of the long suffering Mrs. Hudson more as she is portrayed in 'Sherlock' than in Granada's Sherlock Holmes.

Because I am hoping Brad will put something in his bottle. . . .

Sherlock & Watson
Recipe by Kenaniah Bystrom, bar manager of Essex

2 ounces American single-malt scotch or Highland scotch
1/2 ounce earl grey syrup
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 dashes Scrappy’s cardamom bitters
1 lemon twist, for garnishing 

For earl grey syrup:
Boiling water
1 bag of earl grey tea
16 ounces honey  

Source

Because I need cheering up after my failed attempt at Sherlockian Immortality . . . . tea cheers us up, right?

Tea fixes everything. Sherlock Holmes liked tea, didn't he? Please say he did.

And to go with your Cuppa. . .

Tea Biscuit one-o-one.

And your own recipe. . .

Under the, "I didn't know that!" category.

Builder's tea is an English colloquial term for a strong, milky tea with sugar. The tea takes its name from the inexpensive tea commonly drunk by construction workers taking a break. A builder's tea is typically brewed in a mug (as opposed to a teapot) with two (or more in some cases) teaspoons of sugar.^[1][2] The term has widespread use throughout both Ireland and theUnited Kingdom.

Brad's summer reading list - # 7- GREE

Once again, intrigue from a foreign land.
Mainly because I haven't the mental energy this morning to produce a work of even minor scholarly worth, I am going to suggest an inquiry instead. In other words; I am hoping someone with more mental energy than I will have a more scholarly answer.
But before we begin.

If for not other reason than this line, “Because my brother Mycroft possesses it in a larger degree than I do.”, GREE would forever find itself in the annals of Sherlock Holmes Canon.

In reality, for better or worse, this line and a few surrounding passages probably get more focus than anything else in this case. Mycroft appears or is mentioned in only four tales in the Canon. GREE is his introduction. And ever since then we Sherlockians have been trying to put a face on his personality and character, just like we have done with Holmes, Watson and many others in the stories.
(I actually like Stephen Fry as Mycroft in many ways in the RDJ movies.)

The story starts in Baker St. with Holmes and Watson after afternoon tea ( how many times do we hear that in the Canon?) discussing a variety of topics eventually coming around to how heredity effects ones talents or abilities. It not only sounds like an interesting conversation, but it is comforting to know that Holmes and Watson would at times just relax and enjoy each others company when not involved in a case. One of those minor things we may at times overlook.

It is during this conversation that Mycroft's name comes up. And although we hear very little of Mycroft as the cases go by, we are lead to believe at one time in GREE that the brothers may have more contact than we may first imagine.

But that's for another time. (A gasp goes up from my reading audience.)

What I am seeking today is answer to a question that has arisen from Brad's summer reading list.
And that is; Who many cases of Sherlock Holmes involve intrigue that is generated from some foreign country, either in it's participants or origin of the crime?
Just going over several of my favorites I find that most of them involve someone or something of a non-British nature.
It is interesting.
Anyone care to give me an informed or uninformed idea?

For all my fellow tea lovers - advanced skills 101

OK, this is really more me. . .