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AIBU?

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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:
Bedsheets4knickers · 09/04/2022 11:21

We always called the May half term Whitsun

HunterHearstHelmsley · 09/04/2022 11:22

Should read, I didn't rearrange. Getting my tenses confused and saying Easter approx 613 times.

jowly · 09/04/2022 11:23

@Herani

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?!
Was that the mysterious September one I wonder
MatildaJayne · 09/04/2022 11:24

I’d say you are all wrong! Half term is the school term time between holidays, six half terms a year. The holidays are called October half term holiday, Christmas holiday, Feb half term holiday, Easter holiday, Whitsun half term holiday (now not actually Whitsun) and the summer holiday.

Just to be awkward.

Piggywaspushed · 09/04/2022 11:24

When I moved form Scotland to England I was so confused by all this mention of Whitsun breaks! Had no clue.

KineticSand · 09/04/2022 11:24

YANBU, you are right about the correct names for holidays.

I have noticed Easter holidays being called "half term" a lot, including my by employer in the education sector! Probably in this case it is to do with D&I and thinking non Christians will get offended by holidays named after Xmas and Easter.

Herani · 09/04/2022 11:25

I do wonder! I always remember it as a holiday after summer holidays….

Calennig · 09/04/2022 11:25

I agree halt terms have always been there - may half term is indeed called whisun.

However I have in RL - but only were we are currently s wales - heard a few parents refer to Easter as half term - which was very confusing so much so I asked them wtf - and yes they claimed it was always so Hmm though others like me were bemused at the incorrect term.

LittleBearPad · 09/04/2022 11:26

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.

Bollocks.

No one has ever said Easter holidays and not meant the school holidays.

Nor has anyone ever referred to the Easter holidays and meant the period from Good Friday to Easter Monday.

You’ve made yourself look rather stupid.

LittleBearPad · 09/04/2022 11:27

@KineticSand

YANBU, you are right about the correct names for holidays.

I have noticed Easter holidays being called "half term" a lot, including my by employer in the education sector! Probably in this case it is to do with D&I and thinking non Christians will get offended by holidays named after Xmas and Easter.

In which case Spring Holidays would be a more sensible alternative description.
shinynewapple22 · 09/04/2022 11:27

In my 50s so school 70s just into 80s, but also worked many years in education. DC left school 2017. West mids.

Autumn term, spring term, summer term. Holidays are the end if those terms Christmas (2 weeks), Easter (2 weeks) and summer (6 weeks) with a week's half term holiday in the middle of each term .

I wonder if some people are now changing the title of the Christmas and Easter holidays to make them more inclusive considering many people don't celebrate these Christian festivals?

Romeocorner · 09/04/2022 11:28

I work in childcare and drives me mad that everyone under the age of 30 says we are on half term, no we're not it's the Easter holidays.

And don't get me started on vests that popper up under the nappy being called babygros.

TorringtonDean · 09/04/2022 11:28

Yes, it’s annoying and wrong. There are Christmas, Easter and summer holidays and half terms half way through the three terms. Is it something to do with the authorities claiming there are now six terms? Also some schools get a two week October half term so no wonder people are getting confused. I find it’s something said by young professionals who don’t have kids and don’t really know when the holidays are - or men who are utterly detached from the parenting in their own family.

AbleCable · 09/04/2022 11:28

I know nobody who uses half-term or mid-term for the Christmas or Easter holidays. They are the Christmas and Easter holidays!

Calennig · 09/04/2022 11:29

Good Friday to Easter Monday - or Tuesday as well where I grew up - is Easter weekend not Easter hoildays - which is always ther school/uni tern which does vary between areas.

KineticSand · 09/04/2022 11:30

Thinking about it, I have also noticed my enthusiastic pronoun sharing employer saying Winter Break and Spring Break. That's fine with me but half term for Easter can GTF

AnImaginaryCat · 09/04/2022 11:31

@SoManyTshirts

In my unreliable memory of the 60s and early 70s, half term was only 2 days (later extended with Baker days) and the other holidays were a bit longer.
Bakers days.- now that's a term I'd forgotten!

Never heard the Christamas or Easter holidays referred to as mid-term. Not until this morning when my son (incorrectly!) said it, and now this thread. I'm going to start hearing it everywhere aren'tI!!!

HunterHearstHelmsley · 09/04/2022 11:31

@LittleBearPad

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.

Bollocks.

No one has ever said Easter holidays and not meant the school holidays.

Nor has anyone ever referred to the Easter holidays and meant the period from Good Friday to Easter Monday.

You’ve made yourself look rather stupid.

Bollocks. The dates are different in different areas anyway. You'd have to be monumentally thick to not realise that and say Easter holiday. Easter holiday doesn't just apply to schools 🤣
iklboo · 09/04/2022 11:31

I'm also 53 this year. We always called it half term.

JustDanceAddict · 09/04/2022 11:32

Half term was always the weeks in Oct, Feb and end May.

Glitterblue · 09/04/2022 11:32

@ChiefWiggumsBoy I feel in a foul mood this morning too and just read a thread where someone said "isn't it half term in 2 days?" That made me see red and I'm ashamed to say I replied with something like "no, not until the end of May. It's the Easter holidays in 2 days" 🙈

iklboo · 09/04/2022 11:33

Sorry, pressed send to soon. The half term holidays were just that. A one week break in the middle of the full term. The rest were Easter, Summer & Christmas holidays 2 / 6 weeks long 'end of term' holidays. It's the same at DS' school now.

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 09/04/2022 11:34

@HunterHearstHelmsley I was more referring to the comments above about asking if a kid is enjoying the holidays. And if you booked it last week then you didn’t assume it meant the actual holiday did you, as that’s just Friday and Monday? It’s also on them to tell you when school holidays fall, ours are the coming two weeks.

If someone had come to me and asked for time off during half term I would never assume they meant the Easter holidays as it’s NOT half term? It’s like saying I asked for the weekend off but because I work Tuesday-Saturday I actually meant Sunday-Monday. Use the correct words for what you’re referring to and there will be no confusion.

shinynewapple22 · 09/04/2022 11:34

@jowly did you live in an industrial area? A lot of industries near to us had shut down weeks during September so children whose parents worked in those industries were often off school on family holidays during term time in September. It was allowed then!

KatherineofGaunt · 09/04/2022 11:35

I think people get confused now because some schools moved over to six terms, rather than three terms/six half-terms. So some new young parents perhaps don't even know that there used to be three terms and what a half-term holiday even is.

But YANBU. It annoys me!