kitchen supper
Contents |
English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
Etymology 1 [edit]
From the fact that servants of a household were generally subordinate to the kitchen, and were expected to eat away from the family members.
Noun [edit]
kitchen supper (plural kitchen suppers)
- (dated) The evening meal served for servants, separate from the family's meal.
- The cook prided herself on making the kitchen supper as delicious as the family's dinner.
Quotations [edit]
For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.
Etymology 2 [edit]
From the idea that the hosts forgo the dining room for the more private and relaxed kitchen.
Noun [edit]
kitchen supper (plural kitchen suppers)
- An informal or semiformal meal served for guests, not necessarily one served in the kitchen.
- The couple threw an impromptu kitchen supper when the dinner reservations fell through.
Quotations [edit]
For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.
Usage notes [edit]
In contemporary British use, the phrase is seen as snobbish and very U. Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph describes it as "disclosing an assumption – we have a nice dining room but we’ll be all relaxed with our pals and won’t use it – which is perplexingly, excludingly foreign to [a general] audience",[1] while Harry Mount says that "[although] the ingredients of a kitchen supper are universally recognisable [...] the actual expression is confined to the upper-middle classes".[2]
References [edit]
- ^ Moore, Charles, "Even I’m starting to wonder: what do this lot know about anything?", The Daily Telegraph, 2012-03-30.
- ^ Mount, Harry, "The class war is still raging across the dining table", The Daily Telegraph, 2012-03-29.
