It’s the EASTER HOLIDAYS not ‘half term’

[RuthieW84]

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 🙄

YANBU OP. Easter Holidays are not half term.

I can understand people being a bit confused at the moment but, saying that, nobody I know would refer to the end of term as half term.

And staycation means staying at home and going on day trips.
Having a holiday in the UK is called 'going on holiday'.
Otherwise you are assuming that the only place you can have a holiday is abroad. It's not the norm to go abroad - very normal to have a holiday on the UK.

It’s like the difference between Disneyland and Disney World for me. Get it right people.

I keep calling this Easter half term, I think it's because I worked all through the last half term I don't feel I've had a break since January 🤣

I'm with you, OP. I don;t know where this has come from. People used to understand these things. We've had three terms a year since forever, and a week's half-term holiday in the middle of each. No-one got confused, no-one called the holidays anything other than Christmas, Easter, Summer, or one of the three half-term holidays.

Why are people doing it now? And why is it spreading like wildfire?
What on earth logic are people using to think that half comes into anything at Easter?

I find it really confusing when people refer to half term, I think they're talking about the May holiday, and it turns out they mean Easter.

@ballsdeep

Why do you care so much? Honestly, the things people worry about in the world amazes me.

It's really confusing? If someone tries to make arrangements for the kids for half term, I assume they mean half term. Not Easter.

I've actually had conversations like this and it's taken days to discover that the half-term person doesn't know what half term is, and I've penciled something in for the wrong week.

@Honeybobbin I grew up in Scotland. I’ve heard of Whitsun but no idea what it is. I’ve googled it and it’s definitely not a thing where I live.

YANBU.

DH calls the Easter Holiday "half term" and it has actually caused real-life problems for us. Like when he suggested taking a mini break at half term, so I booked Annual Leave for half term... but he actually meant Easter and booked the break starting the day after Easter Monday.
And the time I said I could do school pick-ups until half term but after that we'd have to use after school club. He said there was no need because he could do pick-ups after half term... except he meant Easter. Fortunately there was still a place left in club at the last minute when I realised.

Strangely, he knows the difference between half term and Christmas holidays. It's just Easter he can't get his head around.

@Chewbecca

Er, it’s pedants’ corner.

Surely that depends on how many pedants there are?

Irritates me too, OP. It's not hard (though obviously I would never say anything in real life).

Never heard anyone calling it half term.
Although schools here seem to call esch half term a term and number them 1-6 which really doesn't help me understand what they're on about. In this case there is no such thing as a a half term holiday/break?!? either because each old half term is a term. So any suggestions?

This annoys me too! I'm in my 30s and it has been so since I started school in the late 80s, so why are my late 20s colleagues asking if I have time booked off at "half term" meaning easter and confusing me?

Nowadays there are probably a hell of a lot of parents/kids who don't recognise/celebrate Easter so they are not too fussed about how they refer to time off school.

You are right, it's the end of term, not half term.

But at our school many staff were furloughed until 8th March, we have been back a mere 3 weeks and we broke up again on Friday.

It feels like a half-term break rather than the end of a term simply because we've been back such a short time and it's difficult to get our heads around term-end already....hence people kept saying half-term and then correcting themselves. Maybe where the confusion lies this time around....

@PandaFluff

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

I suspect that's the case.

YANBU There is no such thing as 'half term' anyway, because that would be every 6 or 7 weeks. It is half SEMESTER holidays. Not half 'term'. 2 semesters in a year, 4 terms in a year. 2 terms per semester. How can you even have a 'half' term? That would mean 8 holidays a year, since there are 4 years a year.

YANBU.

I work in the nhs in an outpatient setting.
Our last batch of appointment letters went out a few weeks ago.

We had parents ringing to cancel and leaving a message asking for their child’s appointment to be moved to half term.

Appointments were cancelled and moved to half term at the end of May ( if clinically appropriate for them to wait)

We then got calls saying ‘why am I waiting so long, I want to be seen in April’ ie the EASTER holidays.

Sorry, all the Easter slots are now booked, and you will be waiting until May half term because that is what you asked for.

Terminology matters. Yes I am a pedant.

It's got worse, presumably because of covid? And the fact that the Feb 1/2 term was a non event!

@Niconacotaco

I'm in Scotland. At our school we have a different name for every holiday - September weekend, October week (which I think is half term), Christmas, Easter, May Day, end of May holiday. Feb weekend might be referred to as February half term. Everything is oddly specific.

Wot no Tattie Holidays any more?

@Cokie3

YANBU There is no such thing as 'half term' anyway, because that would be every 6 or 7 weeks. It is half SEMESTER holidays. Not half 'term'. 2 semesters in a year, 4 terms in a year. 2 terms per semester. How can you even have a 'half' term? That would mean 8 holidays a year, since there are 4 years a year.

That's certainly nt the case for English schools. The majority have 3 terms spilt into 2 parts

If you said that it's not always half way through you'd be right but the rest of your point doesn't apply in England where I think the OP is

Are you just talking about this year? Because it’s been a very confusing year. I called it half term the other day then corrected myself. On that basis, I’ve said yabu.