Evening

Evening is the period of the day between the afternoon and night. It begins when the afternoon is over and ends when it gets dark, unless it is summer, in which case it ends when everyone gives up and goes to bed in daylight.^[1]

The exact start of the evening has never been agreed, which is unusual for a part of the day that happens every day.

When evening begins

The Early School holds that evening begins at 5 p.m., when people stop working. The Late School holds that it begins at 6 p.m., when people stop pretending to work. A third school, the Dinnerists, argue that evening begins whenever someone first asks “what shall we have for dinner?”, and have recorded this happening as early as 10:40 a.m.^[2]

Greetings

“Good evening” is said at the start of the evening and “good night” at the end. Between the two lies a gap of several hours in which no greeting is officially valid, and people are advised to nod.^[3]

Activities

• Eating dinner.
• Deciding what to watch, which takes longer than watching it.
• Saying it is getting late (from 7 p.m.).
• Saying it is still early (from 11 p.m.).

See also

• Afternoon – what evening is after
• Midnight – where evening ends up
• Morning – evening's opposite number

References

1. Dusk, D. (2002). When Is Evening? Twilight Press.
2. Supper, S. (1997). “The Dinnerist Position”. Journal of Daily Periods 9: 17.
3. Nod, N. (n.d.). The Greeting Gap. Unfinished.