lunch(eon)

[angus]

I've noticed that I often get invited to Luncheon.  "A luncheon will follow, please try to attend" or "Please indicate your plans to attend luncheon by responding to..."  

Usually, I have lunch, and usually it consists of a sandwich in my office, alone, or noodles at home with only my family, but a luncheon consists of slightly fancier sandwiches or soup, and always in the company of familiar, non-familial persons.  

Lunch can also consist of burgers and beer.  Luncheon almost never features beer, although it may, from time to time, feature an entrée vaguely resembling a burger.

Which do you prefer, lunch or luncheon?

[angus]

various organizations

Interesting choice of words.  Organization.  Yes, I think that may be the key.

Lunch, whether the object or the subject, finds its way into short, uncomplicated sentences.  Luncheon is the subject (or object) of longer, better organized sentences.  Folks often suggest "let's do lunch!" but no one ever suggests "let's do luncheon."  If they want you to "do luncheon" they choose a different verb, rather than the all-purpose "do" verb.  They say things like, "A luncheon will be served after the seminar..." or something like that.

Also, when I think of lunch, I think of situations in which I am allowed to belch or fart with impunity, whereas when I think of luncheon, I think of situations in which I am expected to contain my natural bodily gases.

I think I'm leaning toward lunch, if only for the opportunity to break wind should the urge arise.

[angus]

The best part about law school is that every day at lunch, from 12 to 1, there are at least 1 or 2 (sometimes up to 5 or 6!) free lunch events, where one of the clubs, organizations, or career services folks brings in a speaker or two.

I remember having lots of free meal opportunities in grad school as well.  Maybe not quite as many as you have, but typically ten or so over the course of a semester.  Students were expected to lunch with seminar speakers, candidate grad students, candidates for faculty positions, and the like.  They were always called lunch, often involved free beer, and were quite popular with the grad students.  They generally featured hearty sandwiches with meat, burgers, Indian food, or sometimes chinese food (tea instead of beer on those occasions, of course.)  Some were catered, and some involved taking a billing voucher to a local pub. 

I believe that those were genuine lunches, and not luncheons.  At least the food was good, the company was good, and I always felt free to belch and fart.

I don't get those any more.  Here, it's always alcohol-free and we're expected not to fart too loudly.  We do get a "president's supper" twice a year, which features excellent catered food and all the red wine and white wine you can drink.  My wife always comes with me so she can drive us home.

[angus]

Like angus, I'm a brownbagger more often than not, though I'm not as careful and artistic at making my sandwich as angus has described to us in the past. 

Today's sandwich featured several thin slices of roast beef, Jarlsberg cheese, tomato, lettuce, and a fresh, thinly-sliced serrano pepper on ciabatta loaf, mayo on the side with tomato, brown mustard on the side with the cheese, of course.  I toasted it lightly before eating it. 

The main course was followed by a banana and a handful of Pirates Booty snacks (which also inspired me to learn how to make Sporcle polls.)

[angus]

you betcha!

[angus]

Luncheon tomorrow at the library.  12 to 1:30.  I'll have to duck out about 12:50 but I'll go.  My guess is that there will be "wraps" and crisps and a tray of fresh fruit. 

[angus]

Do luncheons have links with luncheonettes?

The ones that I have attended did not. 

[angus]

I was impressed yesterday.  The luncheon actually featured some hot food.  There was a soup with corn, chicken, rice and celery in a broth.  Very hot.  There were sandwiches, of course, and it was buffet-style so I took several.  There was also a warm, baked pasta and cheese dish.  I opted out of that one as I'm not a fan of any of the macaroni and cheese type dishes, but it seemed to have been a hit.  There were also grilled asparagus, zucchini, summer squash, red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower that were still warm.  (They have a propensity to serve these items cold and raw, which I think is bizarre, and then add insult to injury by providing some heavy sour cream dipping sauce, so I was particularly delighted at the cooked vegetables.)  To drink there was a choice of coffee, tea, and water.  I'd already had too much coffee so I opted for the tea.  (No sugar, no milk, no lemon, thank you.)  It was the individually-wrapped variety, with little bags on a string.  You put steaming hot water into the cup and then let the little tea bag steep for a while.  When I drink tea I normally prefer the loose leaf variety, and that's all we ever use at home, but the bag stuff wasn't terrible.  There were also some little slices of cakes and pies for dessert, but I'm not much into sweets, so I just had a second cup of tea instead.  

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by yesterday's luncheon.