Half term didn't used to exist did it?

Definitely a (recent) thing to call all school holidays ‘half term’ . Teenagers and parents IME

I hadn't noticed the misuse of "half term" - but then not I'm greatly impacted by school holidays.
This thread has reminded me of a college where I did a change management program a few years ago - planning was around different terms, often with testing phases over the holidays.
I was leading a planning/information session at the introduction of the program - afterwards someone took me aside and said that the principle had decreed that no one should use the word "Christmas" in respect of the multi-cultural nature of the college.
I took this on board, and at the next meeting referrred dutifully to the Winter Break and the Spring Break. All went well, then halfway through, someone said "oh, do you mean Easter?"
And they all thought I was a miserable sod for not giving anyone a christmas card.

No such phrase in Scotland! It's Easter Holiday, Summer Holiday etc.

So when's the one week break each term or is Easter and Christmas the break and the term is August to June? Is that what it means?

I've always said the Christmas/easter/summer holidays for the 2/6 week main holidays and half term for the week off in October, February and May, half way through the term, but recently I've definitely heard people calling them all half term, and it really irritates me 😂

Always just summer/October(or tattie holidays)/Christmas and Easter. Then random days here and there

@TeacupDrama sorry, just realised your counting before and after October as separate terms where I think of them as one

Yep
Half term hols are, funnily enough, half way through each term!

For me this is the Easter school holidays. Whitsun week is half term. Then the summer holidays. Then October half term. Then Christmas holidays. Then winter half term.

When I was in infant school half term was three days.

Never heard Easter or Christmas called half term except on Mumsnet. Half term is October February and May

@TeacupDrama that's 3 terms not 4.

Autumn with October week
Winter with Feb break
Summer with two May weekends

In Scotland we tend to call feb mid term which is 3 days, then Easter holidays, summer holidays, tattie holidays and Xmas holidays.

Half term (when I was growing up and for my kids) is always a week with a possible INSET tagged on. Easter/Summer/Christmas are always 2 weeks + so just called school holidays

It annoys me too as it’s not half way through a term . It’s the end of term .

we are in Scotland we have 4 terms and don't really use half term except for february break, we have Autumn term then approx 2 weeks in mid October called "October break" then winter term followed by Christmas holidays then spring term which includes a half term break mid february then Easter or Spring holidays ( nearly always first two weeks in April) then follows Summer term with long weekend in May this year it's June for Platinium jubilee then finish at end of June for Summer holidays

Despite saying I haven't heard anyone in Ireland doing this I've just seen it on a FB group I'm in. Somebody is going away for midterm break.

Is it to do with religion playing a much smaller role in society?

I don't know where it's come from, but even my IL's (mid 70's) are at it - we had a confusing conversation a couple of weeks ago where they asked when half term started and I waffled away about the extra Bank Holiday in June and it being slightly longer this time etc, but turns out they meant when do the Easter Holidays start!!

Well if it is 1/2 term instead of the Easter Holidays does that mean that children will be going back to school after 1 week off.

Do people think the term runs from mid February to mid June?

Never ever heard of this
If some one ask me what I was doing for half term I would tell them I hadn’t planned that far ahead. Let’s get over the Easter Holidays never mind what I would be doing half way through next term.

I am sure some of these things are a conspiracy to muddle people up

We've just had the end of term and are now in the Easter holidays. In May we have the Whitsun half term holiday. Isn't that what everyone thinks? I've never heard of calling all the holidays half term.

We are in Scotland and have never used the phrase half term. For us it was October holidays, Christmas holidays, Easter holidays and Summer holidays, with some long weekends off through or the year.

I think it was on parenting forums that I first head of half term .

Annoys me too!

I'm also Scotland.

They were called October week, February break, and May weekends I'm not sure which May weekend is 'half-term'.

My mum calls the February holiday "teachers rest" I can't imagine that was ever the official name for it.

Easter weekend may or may not be attached to the very Americanly named "Spring break"

Summer holidays and Christmas holidays never Spring holidays 🙃

Yes it was like that in the 70s/80s

But I think it’s still like that now - i’ve only heard half term for the short break in the middle of term, and then Easter/summer/Christmas holidays for the main breaks

People can accuse me of living in a bubble, an echo chamber, whatever you like. It's true. I have NEVER heard this in my life before. Perhaps I am one of those people who is so feeble and unworldly that everyone instinctively understands that I need and expect to protected from the rawest horrors of gritty real life, so people censor themselves around me. I can't believe such horrors exist, frankly. Pass me the smelling salts.

Everyone used to call the October, February and May weeks off "half term" where I am. Christmas, Easter and summer were the relevant "holidays".

Now everyone is calling Christmas and Easter "half term" as well and it is driving me mad. DH is the worst! It's not bloody half term, it's the end of a whole term!

Glad it's not just me who has noticed this and is annoyed by it.

There used to be 3 terms a year. Now there are 6. So there were 3 half term holidays.

I've heard 2 people this week call this half term having never heard it before. It's surprisingly annoying.