Half term didn't used to exist did it?

I had to book a meeting outside the Easter holiday. It had to be outside the Easter holiday because of childcare commitments. I booked it for last week, the Easter holiday is next weekend. Some people are pissed off as they're now having to pay for extra childcare, they meant the school Easter holidays (which makes no sense whatsoever as different areas have different dates). I'm not rearranging as they fucked up by not being clear. If they'd said "half term" instead of Easter Holidays, there wouldn't have been an issue and I would have double checked dates. I took it to mean the actual Easter holiday.

So when you say 'Easter holidays' do you literally just mean the bank holidays - good Friday and Easter Monday?

Cross-posted. Yup, exactly.

Bollocks. The dates are different in different areas anyway. You'd have to be monumentally thick to not realise that and say Easter holiday. Easter holiday doesn't just apply to schools 🤣

No I know that which is why I don’t book important meetings for the three weeks around Easter without checking people’s actual availability.

‘Easter holiday’ isn’t a thing. Easter weekend is the correct term.

Easter holidays is used in relation to schools and educational settings.

Bollocks. The dates are different in different areas anyway. You'd have to be monumentally thick to not realise that and say Easter holiday. Easter holiday doesn't just apply to schools 🤣

Nonsense. The fact that different areas have different school holiday dates is utterly irrelevant to the fact that when people say 'the Easter holidays' they invariably mean the school Easter holidays (whatever date they are, and whether they even have children or not, because they'll all have gone to school at some point, and that's what it's called!).

Easter weekend isn't 'the holidays' and you know it!

Half term was a week in the middle of term. Easter, Christmas and Summer Holidays aren't half terms, they end each term! When did this change? I'm starting to feel old...

This is currently driving me mad - I get that half term heroes is alliterative, but it's WRONG!!! www.grandarcade.co.uk/events/superheroes/

Adding to the voices from Scotland.

We have four terms, each with a holiday period. Christmas holidays (two weeks Dec/Jan), Easter holidays (two weeks April), Summer holidays (typically start the end of June until mid August, so 6-7 weeks), Tattie holidays (two weeks at end of September/start of October).

There are random in service days and long weekends throughout the terms - few days in February, a couple of long weekends in May, day or two in November)

Some of our schools have started calling these "half term" over the past few years, but they were never called that until recently.

We never had Feb or May half terms, just tattie picking start of October. Scotland in the 60s.

Easter, summer, Christmas were just "the holidays", you never looked beyond the next one, because you never needed to book a year in advance for anything.

@shinynewapple22 that could well have been it! Thank you.

My father works in the car industry

I suppose all the holidays are half term, you have half a term at school then a holiday!

No. Each half term of school is a half term, because it's...half a term. Each holiday is either at the end of a term or half-way through a term. The ones that are half-way through the term are called half term holidays!

While we're on the subject, my recently departed Nan (94) used to call one of the half terms "potato picking week". Any idea which one this would have been? I just can't remember but I'd love to know.

October. North of Fife in Scotland they are the tattie holidays.

I suppose all the holidays are half term, you have half a term at school then a holiday!

I started school in 1959.there was always half term although where I lived it was just the Friday and Monday round the weekend and we had 7 weeks summer holiday. Baker days were days holiday that teachers lost in a pay deal in 1985 nothing to do with half term. They are used for teacher training but used yp be called occasional days and could be any days the school decuded. Children have always had the same number of days holiday.

I think people get confused now because some schools moved over to six terms, rather than three terms/six half-terms. So some new young parents perhaps don't even know that there used to be three terms and what a half-term holiday even is.

But YANBU. It annoys me!

@jowly did you live in an industrial area? A lot of industries near to us had shut down weeks during September so children whose parents worked in those industries were often off school on family holidays during term time in September. It was allowed then!

@HunterHearstHelmsley I was more referring to the comments above about asking if a kid is enjoying the holidays. And if you booked it last week then you didn’t assume it meant the actual holiday did you, as that’s just Friday and Monday? It’s also on them to tell you when school holidays fall, ours are the coming two weeks.

If someone had come to me and asked for time off during half term I would never assume they meant the Easter holidays as it’s NOT half term? It’s like saying I asked for the weekend off but because I work Tuesday-Saturday I actually meant Sunday-Monday. Use the correct words for what you’re referring to and there will be no confusion.

Sorry, pressed send to soon. The half term holidays were just that. A one week break in the middle of the full term. The rest were Easter, Summer & Christmas holidays 2 / 6 weeks long 'end of term' holidays. It's the same at DS' school now.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy I feel in a foul mood this morning too and just read a thread where someone said "isn't it half term in 2 days?" That made me see red and I'm ashamed to say I replied with something like "no, not until the end of May. It's the Easter holidays in 2 days" 🙈

Half term was always the weeks in Oct, Feb and end May.

I'm also 53 this year. We always called it half term.

Never heard the Christamas or Easter holidays referred to as mid-term. Not until this morning when my son (incorrectly!) said it, and now this thread. I'm going to start hearing it everywhere aren'tI!!!

Thinking about it, I have also noticed my enthusiastic pronoun sharing employer saying Winter Break and Spring Break. That's fine with me but half term for Easter can GTF

Good Friday to Easter Monday - or Tuesday as well where I grew up - is Easter weekend not Easter hoildays - which is always ther school/uni tern which does vary between areas.

I know nobody who uses half-term or mid-term for the Christmas or Easter holidays. They are the Christmas and Easter holidays!