AIBU to think that a staycation involves actually staying at home?

[cheeseismydownfall]

I have always thought that a staycation is when you take leave from work and stay at home, in your house, taking day trips and generally trying to create a holiday vibe by doing the sort of things that you might normally only do on holiday.

Recently though I have seen it used to mean any holiday in the UK. Surely this is just a regular holiday?!

Yanbu. It seems like last year it moved from home to a country

I think it usually means a holiday in the uk because you’re staying in the country

YANBU and there was at least one thread on this a while ago.
It's super snobby to think that you have to go abroad to have a "real" holiday.

You can say UK holiday etc. "Staycation" always used to mean staying at home.

It has meant a UK holiday for years!

It can mean either.

I’d use it as a U.K. holiday.

It means staying in your own home but being off work and trying to do fun things, drives me mad! Going anywhere else is an actual holiday!

Not according to the Cambridge dictionary, and Merriam-Webster one😁

No, it definitely means holidaying in your own country, not staying at home.

I'd always thought of a staycation as anything in the UK ie. I'm not 'leaving' the country to go on holiday I'm 'staying'. But logically it does make more sense to mean staying at home vs staying somewhere else.

YANBU but I also don't think most people give it that much thought. I certainly hadn't.

Sorry taht was for the country bit (not staying at home)

@Shoxfordian

I think it usually means a holiday in the uk because you’re staying in the country

People who have started using it like that risk sounding like spoilt brats.

Holidaying in your own country is (OFC!) still a holiday, and was the norm for most people who were fortunate enough to have holidays throughout most of history.

“Staycation” was coined to mean you take time off work, sunbathe on your own lawn/balcony, eat takeaways or eat out, visit local attractions you never normally get around to and so on. Chilling in your own home, basically. Not going away.

People who have started using it like that risk sounding like spoilt brats.

What a ridiculous comment.

You need to look at some online dictionaries. It’s a perfectly valid use of the word. Language evolves.

It just seems to be a way of telling people you normally holiday abroad. Most People who always holiday in the UK would say they were having a holiday.

What a ridiculous comment.

You need to look at some online dictionaries. It’s a perfectly valid use of the word. Language evolves.

Why is it ridiculous? Thousands of people have lost jobs. We are about to be plunged into a nasty recession. Of course it sounds snotty and spoilt to imply a domestic holiday isn’t a “real” holiday. It doesn’t take much effort to practise some sensitivity.

It's a vacation in your home country. Staying in your own home whilst on leave from work is not a vacation.

Of course it sounds snotty and spoilt to imply a domestic holiday isn’t a “real” holiday. It doesn’t take much effort to practise some sensitivity.

This absolutely screams of someone desperately looking to be offended about something.

It’s one of those phrases that has evolved to mean something else because so many people started using it in the wrong way. So the wrong way is now dominant. Annoying.

Same thing happened with Bitchy Resting Face, the original phrase that was termed in some blog or other years ago - so many people wrongly say Resting Bitch Face now, it is the dominant phrase. Even though that makes no sense imho.

You need to look at some online dictionaries.
Cambridge
a holiday that you take at home or near your home rather than travelling to another place
Merriam Webster
a vacation spent at home or nearby

(I trust these ones obviously there is many more though)

The term was coined onkya few years ago (credit crunch) specifically to mean staying at home but acting as if you were on hoday.

It's very useful in that sense:

• holiday abroad
• UK holiday
• staycation (where you live)

If that distinction is lost, we get

• holiday abroad
• UK holiday/staycation
• lexical gap, so have to type out something like 'staying home but acting as if on holiday'

The erosion of a perfectly good term with a distinct and useful meaning is unfortunate

I have to agree that to me it means staying your own home.

Vacating your home for a holiday is a vacation. Staying in your home for a holiday didn't have a specific word, so "staycation" began to be used.

It is the meaning of holiday/vacation that appears to have changed in the last few decades to mean a foreign visit, to the extent that we feel the need to clarify that we are not leaving our own country.

I wonder if this is another US vs UK English thing

@PurpleDaisies

Of course it sounds snotty and spoilt to imply a domestic holiday isn’t a “real” holiday. It doesn’t take much effort to practise some sensitivity.

This absolutely screams of someone desperately looking to be offended about something.

I think it’s more that I come into contact with a lot of people having financially tough times so I’m aware of what I say and how things sound.

I think it’s more that I come into contact with a lot of people having financially tough times so I’m aware of what I say and how things sound.

So do I. They have much greater concerns than someone using a totally innocuous term,

@AuntieStella

The term was coined onkya few years ago (credit crunch) specifically to mean staying at home but acting as if you were on hoday.

It's very useful in that sense:

• holiday abroad
• UK holiday
• staycation (where you live)

If that distinction is lost, we get

• holiday abroad
• UK holiday/staycation
• lexical gap, so have to type out something like 'staying home but acting as if on holiday'

The erosion of a perfectly good term with a distinct and useful meaning is unfortunate

Yes that’s exactly how I remember/understand it @AuntieStella

“Staycationing” was very much something the magazines were all writing about during the credit crunch/ Iceland volcano debacle era.

To me it means staying at home, and separates holidays into three types; abroad, UK (or own country), staying at home but acting like you’re on holiday.
When used that way I think it’s a useful word, you’re on holiday from work, but you’re not staying the night away from home.