Half term didn't used to exist did it?

Thank god. I’ve noticed this on MN recently and it’s asinine.

It’s the Easter holidays. There are three half terms a year, that’s it.

I used to have people incorrectly calling it half term in real life.

Yes! I’ve noticed this too. I work with someone with primary kids who calls Easter “half term”. She’s young. It’s annoying since we are in education.

I don't care about about the correct terminology for school holidays but I think there are far too many of them! I've only just recovered (mentally, not financially) from this round of kid juggling and the childminder has just sent out another text telling us to book in for the May half term 😭 It takes military-style planning to get 2 kids of different ages and interests booked into the correct holiday clubs, camps, childminder sessions, and activities. I then need to rearrange all my clients to fit in with the new schedule. Then the pain of handing over several hundred pounds to ensure my offspring are kept alive and well while I go scrub toilets. Single parent so no one to help out with it all.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant!

Half term is October, February and May. Halfway through each whole term.

I think it's come from a reluctance to assume people are celebrating Easter. Same with Christmas break - I've found myself just saying "the holidays". Half term just trips off the tongue-doesn't make it accurate, though!

Half term is half way through the term, Christmas, Easter and summer are at the end!

@tigger1001 I was referring to your 'Tattie holiday' post. Stupid MN inability to edit posts!

In the 60s I remember half-term in Feb or Oct and it was only Monday and Tuesday. Then we had Whitsun in May which was a whole week.

Sorry that’s probably unnecessarily aggressive, I’m in a foul mood this morning.

My husband calls every single school holiday half term and it fucking annoys me no end.

‘Half term’, so called because it’s a holiday HALF WAY THROUGH THE TERM. Christmas, Easter and summer hols are end of term, two of them just happen to be called after the religious holiday.

I could not disagree more with people that use it as short hand. Just say school holiday or break if you think there might be confusion. Which there absolutely wouldn’t be

Oooh You may have just answered my question......Tattie week might be my Nan's "potato picking week". I'm so chuffed I've found in a likely answer!! Your post has made my day!

How can anyone call the summer holiday half term??

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.

I just use it as short hand. Not the summer holidays obviously.

The Easter holidays here started yesterday. For most people I work with, it stated last week. It's easier to say "half term" to specify I mean when the kids are off, rather than to say "Easter holiday", then I might mean the Good Friday - Easter Monday period.

The only person I know who does this is my family keyworker (arranging appointments etc). Despite having a school age child herself. I don't say anything as she's generally pretty helpful.

All school holidays are called half term, thought that was common knowledge!!

Obviously it isn’t an actual half term but it’s quicker to say when being polite and enquiring if little Jonny is enjoying half term rather than his Easter holidays.

It’s slang yo init

I've just started noticing this this week. Never come across it before.

There are 3 terms in a school year: autumn, spring and summer. There is a school holiday at the end of each term, so Christmas, Easter and summer. They have typically been 2 weeks/2W/6W respectively. And approx half way through each term is a 'half term' holiday, which was typically a week. October HT, February HT and May/June HT (also know as may/spring bank holiday week).

Now schools and authorities can mess about with the school calendar, we've got a range of holidays. My October half term week is now 2 weeks. I'm currently half way through Easter holidays. But I'm still in an end of term holiday, bot halfway through a term!

YANBU.

Half term refers to the single weeks of holiday which occur halfway through the school terms in February, May & October. The clue is in the actual fucking name : Half term.

The Easter & Christmas/New Year holidays are not, and have never been, half term. The happen at the end of terms, not halfway through them. Why is that difficult for people to understand?

We called the half term in October Tattie picking week, (potato picking week).
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I remember three half term holidays a year when I was at school exactly the same as my DC have now. The half term in the summer term - mid way between Easter holidays and summer holidays was referred to as Spring Bank holiday.

I've only ever called it Easter break. Half term are the weeks off in feb, may and October.

I’m a teacher and I’ve heard it multiple times in the past few days, including from other teachers. It derives from the same laziness and ignorance as ‘3am in the morning’, ‘This oven self-cleans itself’ and ‘I could care less about [unimportant thing]’.

You can talk to me all you like about how different people communicate differently and how I shouldn’t judge, but the fact remains - if society was made up of people who used words and phrases accurately, far fewer major mistakes and misunderstandings would happen and things would be smoother and happier. If everyone was the sort of person who calls the three holidays which divide the school year into three whole terms ‘half term’, when there are three other holidays which each divide those whole terms in half, then nobody would understand anybody and society would collapse around our ears.

And no, it didn’t used to be called this a couple of decades ago. It was Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays, with half term holidays in between. YANBU.