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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It’s the EASTER HOLIDAYS not ‘half term’

176 replies

RuthieW84 · 27/03/2021 15:42

AIBU to be annoyed by people calling the Easter holidays ‘half term holidays? It’s the END of the term...! Half term holidays are October, Feb and May. Not a big deal I know but it niggles at me 🙄

OP posts:
Chewbecca · 27/03/2021 16:26

Er, it’s pedants’ corner.

whetherpigshavewings · 27/03/2021 16:31

technically you are right

but frankly who cares.

When you mention holidays people understand you are actually going on HOLIDAY. It wouldn't normally count as a real holiday, but with the pandemic, going on some staycation is still possible. Easter holiday is not a holiday when you are stuck at home for 2 weeks and going nowhere.

So sometimes people use "half term" to describe the school break.

It might not be accurate, but it's just easier.

poppycat10 · 27/03/2021 16:31

@onemouseplace

This sort of thing annoys me as well OP - it's not exactly a difficult concept after all.
Me too. When someone says half term I "innocently" ask oh do you mean May half term week even when it's obvious they mean the Easter holidays.
Stichintime · 27/03/2021 16:31

I totally agree. Also nobody calls the May half term Whitson, or the first May Bank Holiday May day. Its not being pedantic to understand the reason behind these names for some holidays and festivals!

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 27/03/2021 16:34

Haha yes Op loads of friends have said to me oh is it half term already. Cba to correct them though- after the year we have all had time doesn't mean much anyway!

Magnificentmug12 · 27/03/2021 16:35

You can’t name each one! (You can but that’s a faff!)

No matter the break, here, it is always Called half term even if it’s end of term.

We have -half term and 6 weeks holiday. I’ve never ever heard anyone refer to them as anything else other than those two.

Lancrelady80 · 27/03/2021 16:37

I think it's that this year we're all over the place thanks to Covid.

We got a full autumn term in (apart from bubbles breaking) but only this last few weeks with all children, so that pattern of term, half term, term, holidays hasn't really happened this term.

ILoveSlipperss · 27/03/2021 16:38

I bet the majority of people envy your life if this is all you have to think about. Jesus Christ get over it

whetherpigshavewings · 27/03/2021 16:39

Me too. When someone says half term I "innocently" ask oh do you mean May half term week even when it's obvious they mean the Easter holidays.

if you are not going anywhere, it's hardly a Easter holiday, it's Easter break.

PandaFluff · 27/03/2021 16:42

Maybe as they've only gone back to school it feels like a half term?

ilovesushi · 27/03/2021 16:42

I suspect it is because most kids have only been physically back at school for a few weeks, so it feel like it should be a half term rather than the Easter holidays. I think home learning has messed with our concept of time!

Gemma2019 · 27/03/2021 16:42

I don't know OP, I completely lost track of school holidays back in mid 2020.

ThanksItHasPockets · 27/03/2021 16:45

You are right, of course, but the lockdown has thrown me because the February half-term didn't feel like a half-term. I don't think I've referred to the forthcoming Easter holiday as a half-term but it does sort of feel like one.

SwitchUp · 27/03/2021 16:45

I automatically say half term for every holiday, sorry op! I also only learnt that Whitsun existed last year after a colleague mentioned it in relation to holidays, I’d never heard it before in my life still don’t know what it is though

Shoppingwithmother · 27/03/2021 16:47

@whetherpigshavewings

Me too. When someone says half term I "innocently" ask oh do you mean May half term week even when it's obvious they mean the Easter holidays.

if you are not going anywhere, it's hardly a Easter holiday, it's Easter break.

Do you go away on holiday for the full 6-8 weeks off in the summer? The times when you’re not at school are called “school holidays” and always have been as long as I can remember, whether you are going on holiday or not.
FlyingBurrito · 27/03/2021 16:48

It seems to be becoming a lot more common, it wouldn't be so annoying if it simply doesn't make any sense. In what way is it at the half point of any term?

Namechangeforspring2021 · 27/03/2021 16:56

It used to annoy me too - but I’m used to it now as someone I am close to says it, on questioning they explained it as the end of half a term, which it is, the end of the second half.

ThanksItHasPockets · 27/03/2021 16:57

@whetherpigshavewings

Me too. When someone says half term I "innocently" ask oh do you mean May half term week even when it's obvious they mean the Easter holidays.

if you are not going anywhere, it's hardly a Easter holiday, it's Easter break.

'Holiday' doesn't necessarily imply travel, just that no work is done. Likewise 'vacation'.
unchienandalusia · 27/03/2021 16:58

Never heard anyone call it half term. Where are you seeing this?

iolaus · 27/03/2021 16:59

Normally I would agree with you - but this year as kids have only been back a couple of weeks it feels like half term rather than end of term

kirkandpetal · 27/03/2021 16:59

This grates for me too, but I will take that and raise you the Scottish* term start/finish dates. It's effing irritating when Instagram/Facebook/shops all bang on about the kids going 'back to school' when we quietly have got on with it a couple of week previously (and vice versa). Not everything gravitates around the English system!

*and other regional variants

FlyingBurrito · 27/03/2021 17:00

@unchienandalusia

Never heard anyone call it half term. Where are you seeing this?
There was a thread recently that centred around this and I'm sure others I haven't seen and someone said it to me just this morning
Mammyloveswine · 27/03/2021 17:03

I'm a teacher and always say "happy halfas" Grin

Meredusoleil · 27/03/2021 17:05

I'm with you OP. As a teacher it does annoy me. Especially when other teachers say it too!

Another reason for it might be because some (secondary) schools don't have 3 terms but rather 6 terms, as they count each half term as one term. In that way, every holiday except summer becomes a half term iwsim?

Strugglingtodomybest · 27/03/2021 17:09

Er, it’s pedants’ corner.

Grin love it!

This is the first year that I've heard anyone refer to the Easter holidays as half term. I assumed they'd got confused because of lockdown. I didn't know it was a thing, although thinking about it, it is the end of a half term. It'll always be the Easter holidays to be though.