Lots of noise(s) // kindergarten

[pne]

I think Amy hasn't yet grasped the subtle difference between the mass-noun and count-noun senses of noise.

To see what I mean, compare When I drag this stick along the ground, it makes lots of noises (count; German "viele Geräusche") and When I drag this stick along the ground, it makes lots of noise (mass; German "viel Lärm/Krach").

Subtly different meanings of "noise" in each case.

And I bet many of you native speakers have never thought about the distinction, just used it automatically :)

---

In unrelated news, I just renewed Amy's kindergarten coupon, so her kindergarten place will continue to get subsidised by the city. And we upped the number of hours from 4 to 5 (the maximum you're entitled to—if you want more, you either have to pay for the place yourself or prove that you need longer hours e.g. because both parents are working or are attending language courses or whatever) and added dinner, since she said several times that she'd like to eat dinner in kindergarten with the other children.

Comments

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

What time of day is your "dinner" meal? That seems like an odd thing to have in daycare, as it's usually used around here as a 5-7ish pm last meal of the day. Parents usually pick up their kids and then all have dinner. I'm wondering she just wants to stay later or if your meal-names line up differently.

meal names

[pne.livejournal.com]

What time of day is your "dinner" meal?

12:30, or half-past noon.

Though they've sometimes had it a bit earlier, around twelve, which usually made Amy rather upset since she was "forced" to eat dinner with the other children since Stella hadn't come to pick her up yet (which she does at about 12:15).

I'm wondering she just wants to stay later or if your meal-names line up differently.

The latter, I think.

In my usage, "dinner" = "warm, main meal of the day"; "lunch" = "cold, smaller meal eaten around noon"; "supper" = "cold, smaller meal eaten in the evening".

So "dinner" can be either at noon or in the evening, depending on when the main meal of the day is eaten; the other will then be "lunch" or "supper", as appropriate.

And since we usually eat a warm meal around noon and a cold meal in the evening, "dinner" usually refers to the mid-day meal for us -- but we do have days where we eat something smaller around noon and cook a main meal in the evening, in which case "dinner" is the evening meal.

Though now that I think about it, I'd probably call the meal I eat at work "lunch" even if it's a warm meal -- I have the good fortune that Stella occasionally brings me freshly-cooked meals in an insulating bag when she comes to pick up Amy from kindergarten, which is just a couple of buildings away from my work. So on most working days, I eat "breakfast, lunch, supper" even if my lunch happens to be warm.

We did have a time where we tried to eat dinner together in the evening (partly as a way to entice me to come home on time rather than working late), in which case it would have been breakfast-lunch-dinner, but we haven't done that for ages.

FWIW, in German the kindergarten meal is simply "Mittagessen", or literally "mid-day meal" -- though I'd translate that term as "dinner" since, to me, it implies a warm, main meal. Similarly, "Abendessen" ("evening meal") in general German usage to me implies a cold meal, typically bread, so I'd translate it "supper".