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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Half term didn't used to exist did it?

238 replies

EthicalNonMahogany · 09/04/2022 09:51

I feel gaslit by the world! The number of people who are saying to me "oh, at school we always used to call the Easter, Christmas and summer break half term". No you didn't! You used to call it the Easter holidays. It was the holiday that happens at the end of term.

"Half term" used to happen three times a year and was the week off, half way through each term.

I know there have been threads on this before - I'm not disputing that many people now call all the holidays half term. It seems to be the thing now. (Stupid and inaccurate as it may be, but I shall endeavour to cope and life will go on Grin)

My AIBU is this - people are saying it was always that way. AIBU to say no it bloody wasn't!!

OP posts:
Gwenhwyfar · 09/04/2022 11:10

How can anyone call the summer holiday half term??

FarmGirl78 · 09/04/2022 11:11

Oooh You may have just answered my question......Tattie week might be my Nan's "potato picking week". I'm so chuffed I've found in a likely answer!! Your post has made my day! Smile

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 09/04/2022 11:11

My husband calls every single school holiday half term and it fucking annoys me no end.

‘Half term’, so called because it’s a holiday HALF WAY THROUGH THE TERM. Christmas, Easter and summer hols are end of term, two of them just happen to be called after the religious holiday.

I could not disagree more with people that use it as short hand. Just say school holiday or break if you think there might be confusion. Which there absolutely wouldn’t be

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 09/04/2022 11:11

Sorry that’s probably unnecessarily aggressive, I’m in a foul mood this morning.

airrrrAIRRRRiELLLL · 09/04/2022 11:12

In the 60s I remember half-term in Feb or Oct and it was only Monday and Tuesday. Then we had Whitsun in May which was a whole week.

FarmGirl78 · 09/04/2022 11:13

@tigger1001 I was referring to your 'Tattie holiday' post. Stupid MN inability to edit posts!

Fedupsotired · 09/04/2022 11:13

Half term is half way through the term, Christmas, Easter and summer are at the end!

SquirrelFan · 09/04/2022 11:13

I think it's come from a reluctance to assume people are celebrating Easter. Same with Christmas break - I've found myself just saying "the holidays". Half term just trips off the tongue-doesn't make it accurate, though!

Benjispruce4 · 09/04/2022 11:14

Half term is October, February and May. Halfway through each whole term.

Ohmnomnom · 09/04/2022 11:14

I don't care about about the correct terminology for school holidays but I think there are far too many of them! I've only just recovered (mentally, not financially) from this round of kid juggling and the childminder has just sent out another text telling us to book in for the May half term 😭 It takes military-style planning to get 2 kids of different ages and interests booked into the correct holiday clubs, camps, childminder sessions, and activities. I then need to rearrange all my clients to fit in with the new schedule. Then the pain of handing over several hundred pounds to ensure my offspring are kept alive and well while I go scrub toilets. Single parent so no one to help out with it all.

Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant!

lightisnotwhite · 09/04/2022 11:16

Yes! I’ve noticed this too. I work with someone with primary kids who calls Easter “half term”. She’s young. It’s annoying since we are in education.

Snoozer11 · 09/04/2022 11:18

I used to have people incorrectly calling it half term in real life.

LittleBearPad · 09/04/2022 11:18

Thank god. I’ve noticed this on MN recently and it’s asinine.

It’s the Easter holidays. There are three half terms a year, that’s it.

80sMum · 09/04/2022 11:19

YANBU, the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays have never been referred to as "half-term". By definition, "half-term" means halfway through the term!

During my primary school days, the half-term holidays used to be two days only, usually a Thursday and Friday.

I vaguely recall that when the Whitsun Bank Holiday changed to a fixed date of the last Monday in May, it made that half-term 3 days long and shortly after that, all three half-terms became a full 5 days. I was still at school at the time, so I'm guessing that this change occurred sometime in the early 1970s.

ThomasinaGallico · 09/04/2022 11:19

What is this ‘half term’ of which you speak? Next term is Trinity term, surely, and this is the Easter break. 😂👩‍🎓

EBearhug · 09/04/2022 11:19

Half term is half term because it divides two parts of the full term. If you want to get away from Christmas and Easter, then winter holidays and spring holidays would be in line with summer holidays. But they are not half term.

jowly · 09/04/2022 11:19

As a young child in the 70s I'm sure there was a September holiday, which disappeared. Did we have an earlier/shorter summer holiday?

KateTheEighth · 09/04/2022 11:20

Really grinds my gears when people call the Easter/Summer/Christmas holidays half term

I know and accept that it is of absolutely no consequence but it really annoys me

Half term is HALF way through the term

HunterHearstHelmsley · 09/04/2022 11:20

@ChiefWiggumsBoy

My husband calls every single school holiday half term and it fucking annoys me no end.

‘Half term’, so called because it’s a holiday HALF WAY THROUGH THE TERM. Christmas, Easter and summer hols are end of term, two of them just happen to be called after the religious holiday.

I could not disagree more with people that use it as short hand. Just say school holiday or break if you think there might be confusion. Which there absolutely wouldn’t be

I had to book a meeting outside the Easter holiday. It had to be outside the Easter holiday because of childcare commitments. I booked it for last week, the Easter holiday is next weekend. Some people are pissed off as they're now having to pay for extra childcare, they meant the school Easter holidays (which makes no sense whatsoever as different areas have different dates). I'm not rearranging as they fucked up by not being clear. If they'd said "half term" instead of Easter Holidays, there wouldn't have been an issue and I would have double checked dates. I took it to mean the actual Easter holiday.
StageRage · 09/04/2022 11:20

Too many people are thick re comprehension and lazy text language.

BooksAndHooks · 09/04/2022 11:21

Only ever called the feb, May and October holiday’s half term. The end of term holidays are christmas holidays, Easter Holiday’s and summer Holiday’s.

Piggywaspushed · 09/04/2022 11:21

The kids at my school a few weeks ago asked me when half term was. They looked most alarmed when I said end of May ! Grin

It does seem to be a new thing - younger teachers do it too - 'oh, I can't wait til half term'. I wonder if people have just lost all track of time!

Fairislefandango · 09/04/2022 11:21

All school holidays are called half term, thought that was common knowledge!! Obviously it isn’t an actual half term but it’s quicker to say when being polite and enquiring if little Jonny is enjoying half term rather than his Easter holidays. It’s slang yo init

No, it's not slang at all Confused. It's the perfectly non-slangy, correct phrase for some holidays and the incorrect word for other ones!

I don't buy the 'quicker to say', 'it's a couple of syllables shorter' reason either. It's just ignorance and a lack of having thought about why they're called 'half term'.

User748956 · 09/04/2022 11:21

Our neighbour who taxis for schools kept saying he was doing something at half term, I wondered what he was on about and was thinking surely he means Easter as half term has gone

Herani · 09/04/2022 11:21

My mum used to call one of the half terms (think it was after the summer hols) ‘blackberry week’. Anyone else heard that term, or did she invent that all by herself?!

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