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 🙄

@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.

Depends where you live. In England we say term not semester.

In England we have 3 terms. Sept-Dec. Jan-easter. Easter-July. Half way through each term we get a week off, this is called half term.

How do you get to adulthood without knowing what Whitsun is? Do you just assume that you’ve got an arbitrary day off work?!

I agree with you.

But it’s something that has developed. My teenage daughters have adopted it. As have all their friends. And it’s actually quite confusing. One asked me recently whether we would be able to do a certain thing “during half term”. And I thought she meant end of May. But she meant Easter holidays.

Does it really matter though?

Cokie 3 - that is definitely not how it works in England. Not at all.

My manager dies this and it really confuses me as we work in a nursery and half term and Easter are at least 6 weeks apart
She says my deadline is half term so I’m thinking I’ve got loads of time but she actually means next week
It’s bloody annoying

Weird. I have never seen or heard anyone doing this.

@sliceoflife

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.

There’s a touch of glee to your tone here. I wonder if you knew what they might have meant but feel they’ve been taught a valuable lesson.

@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.

I love it when a poster gets all arsey and then posts a completely inarticulate post!

"2 semesters in a year, 4 terms in a year. 2 terms per semester" eh?

"since there are 4 years a year" really?

@Soubriquet

Pedants corner is that way >>>

I call it half term and summer holidays

Everyone I know does

It's not pedantic to call something what it is.

Do you call a car a bus? An apple a banana?

@RuthieW84. I think this term it feels like half term because they've only physically been back 5 minutes. Also a lot of school refer to 'this half term' which, of course it has been - but the second half! Our schools bang on about lent term so it's much more obvious it's the end of term.

I don’t really see how this matters. It is the break at the end of half of a term. It isn’t technically wrong to say half term or Easter break.

@HedgeSparrows

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.

Yep. This one is really annoying me. Especially from reporters & presenters etc who should know better!

@luxxlisbon

I don’t really see how this matters. It is the break at the end of half of a term. It isn’t technically wrong to say half term or Easter break.

Half term holiday doesn't mean holiday after half a term it means holiday half (or approx half) way though the term.

We could all make up definitions of terms but that wouldn't chamge their meaning

I’ve called the upcoming holidays “half term” a couple of times this year. As a PP said, we’ve only been fully back for three weeks, and by December due to child and staff absence, together with Christmas activities, teaching had become... well, a bit hit and miss.

It just feels like a half term not the full holidays. Only, paradoxically, I’m more tired than I normally am at the end of a FULL term. Roll on Thursday....

Well having said that I had never seen this, I have now seen it in another thread.

I wonder whether it happens in areas where the majority of pupils do not celebrate Christmas or Easter.

@Stichintime

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!

We used to. When I was a child in the 1960s we always used to talk about the Whitsun bank holiday and the Whitsun half term.

I remember when my children were at primary school I told someone that we would be doing something at Whitsun and got a very blank look bank. I have stopped saying it!

I’ve not heard people call holidays that aren’t half term, half term.
Didn’t know it was a thing
I’d just assume they’d got it wrong or assume they were a bit dim

I noticed that a teacher called it half term this week and I did eye roll as, like you, I know it is technically the end of term . (& barely the start for some schools due to COVID but that's another conversation)

At least they don't call it spring break like my youngest does (thanks YouTube and Netflix)

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

There are a lot more cues around Christmas than there are around Easter. It’s also a time when non-school goers tend to have a significant, workplace-mandated holiday (so it is probably more meaningful for your DH). And finally, Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are all on the same days every year. Easter has less defined traditions around it and is generally more abstract so I don’t think it’s that strange.

That said, I agree that it’s a bit depressing how mindlessly people tend to speak, and the lack of understanding and curiosity around the half-term thing niggles me too.

@PlumpAndDeliciousFatcat

How do you get to adulthood without knowing what Whitsun is? Do you just assume that you’ve got an arbitrary day off work?!

Bingo.

@Honeybobbin

I agree with the posters about staycation! It has always meant staying at home, but trying to have a nice time. A UK holiday is simply a UK holiday.

Not really, it makes so much more sense that staycation now means "staying in the country" for everybody.

We don't need a word for "staying home for the weekend" or "staying home in the evening" either.

Day trips and pottering around: that's just normal life surely. It's hardly a holiday. We have enough weekends/bank holidays etc for that.

A holiday means going away. With the lockdown and restriction, it also makes so much more sense to know that "staycation" (ie restricted to the UK) are allowed, or HOLIDAYS (crossing the borders) are allowed.

I find the whole 'half term concept daft anyway, particularly when the half term break is the same length as an end of term holiday!! Ridiculous system. Should have 4 terms, no half terms and 4 holiday breaks between terms, starting in Jan with none of this nonsense 3 terms with half term breaks AND end of term breaks.

Sound here the parents, and a lot of teachers, all refer to each half term as a complete term. They talk about 'this term' and 'next term' meaning each side of the half term holiday. It's as if we have 6 school terms in the year. No, it doesn't matter hugely but its a secret bugbear of mine and also makes some things confusing!