Half term didn't used to exist did it?

[EthicalNonMahogany]

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 )

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

DDs school sent an email referring to the 1/2 term for Easter, it is a crap school.
Cafe down the road has 1/2 term special on now.
I’m in the midlands, I know it’s the end of spring term/ Easter holiday.

Fully agree OP

And am really chuckling at the idea that 'Easter holidays' could ever refer to the Easter Weekend in relation to work meetings and not school holidays. Or would some people (in 9-5 office type work places) genuinely need to be advised that they should avoid weekends and bank holidays when booking meetings? 🤣

It's still referred to as Easter break and I never refer to the long holidays as half term

Oh and May half term used to be mentioned as Whitsun

Yes and in 80s crappy short half terms of 2 days but longer main holidays

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.

Do people normally work bank holidays where you work?

I'm not rearranging as they fucked up by not being clear.

If you were unclear when the Easter holidays were, you should have checked. Everyone I work with, no matter whether they have children or not knows the Easter holidays are a week or two around easter.

Everyone I work with, no matter whether they have children or not knows the Easter holidays are a week or two around easter.

And with us, everyone knows (except my former manager, who is surprised every year,) that the start and end dates can vary for different counties, which is relevant when there at least 3 counties in play for your team.

I grew up in England and half term weeks are just that, a week off half way through the term. Autumn half term was called blackberry week as it was when they were ready for harvesting.

When I was in Scotland they seemed to ignore Easter as a holiday all together, I think they add the 2 weeks on to the summer holiday?

It most certainly did, IME. I'm older than most on here, at school and university in the 60s to 70s, and my school half terms were always, but always, around the midpoint of the autumn, spring and summer terms and usually lasted a week, with the three terms themselves divided by Christmas, Easter and summer holidays.
There was never any confusion about this!
Same when DC were at school, in the 90/00s.
I have never heard of the actual holidays being referred to as half terms but perhaps this is a recent thing.
(For universities, half term didn't exist at traditional/RG Universities in our day, or even in DC's: terms are fairly short - 10 weeks mostly and only 8 at Oxbridge - looked up my old uni, it still has three 10-week terms. Newer ones might have longer terms. )

@EBearhug

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?!

Can't have been the end of October, because if you pick them after old Michael as (11th October), that's when the devil spits on them. Otherwise, it would be the most logical one.

I can't see who's the original quote is but possibly the October week, or some other local holiday, depending on what was grown in the area and needed harvested.

Aberdeenshire and Fife get 2 weeks on October for Tattie houkin, basically back in the day it was everyone on hand to get the Potatoes (and probably other crops) harvested for winter.

Half term is ONE WEEK in February / late May and October.

end of

@Tynesider007

I grew up in England and half term weeks are just that, a week off half way through the term. Autumn half term was called blackberry week as it was when they were ready for harvesting.

When I was in Scotland they seemed to ignore Easter as a holiday all together, I think they add the 2 weeks on to the summer holiday?

Some parts of Scotland separated Spring Break, 1st two weeks in April from Easter 10-15 years ago.

Mainly because a late Easter means not a lot of time between end of holidays and start of May exams.
It also means two equal terms between Christmas and Summer

I started school in 1979 (baker days were not until the 80s) and the main difference is that we had a whitsun holiday at what is now the May half term as it was 2 weeks as well and not one, then a shorter summer holiday. Though I think it was just the primaries that had the 2 weeks. Not sure when it became a one week half term. But Easter is definitely an end of a full term holiday and not a half-term.

I’m a teacher and I have noticed lots of people calling the current Easter holidays ‘half term’ where I live, not sure if it’s a regional thing (I’m in the North West) or a generational thing but when I grew up in Wales and when I taught in the South of England a decade ago I don’t remember anybody calling the Easter holidays half term.

As some others have said it does bother me to hear people calling the current holiday ‘half term.’ As a teacher half terms are the holidays in October, February and May/ June which happen mid-way through each school term, it doesn’t make sense to call Easter half term when it marks the end of a full-term and beginning of a new school term, however I suppose for adults who have no experience of school since leaving it themselves maybe this isn’t as obvious.

Some people are just thick

I'm in Scotland and I don't think it's ever been called half term, certainly not in my circle growing up or with my DC either.

Summer holidays, then the "tattie" holidays in October. Christmas then Easter and other holidays generally weren't full weeks so were just school holidays. So we'd get a few days off in Feb, bank holidays in May and school finished at the end of June for the Summer.

Is the summer holidays called summer half term then 😂

Never ever heard this in my life, are those people a bit dim?

And with us, everyone knows (except my former manager, who is surprised every year,) that the start and end dates can vary for different counties, which is relevant when there at least 3 counties in play for your team.

Same here. The request of “avoid Easter holidays” always leads someone to ask “which weeks are those”

When I was in Scotland they seemed to ignore Easter as a holiday all together, I think they add the 2 weeks on to the summer holiday?

I don’t know any parts of Scotland where there were no holidays around Easter. We’ve had years where the Easter holidays didn’t incorporate Easter weekend because Easter was too late or too early, but the holiday was still there. Otherwise the kids would be at school from February half term til the end of June.

You're absolutely right OP. I'm a teacher and my friend recently me if I was 'on half term' which I was a bit confused by. It's not half term because the term has finished.

@ExplodingElephants

No idea what you’re talking about but my son left school three years ago. Is this a very new thing?

I heard it yesterday. I just assume people aren’t really on the ball and haven’t thought it through when they say it.

@EBearhug

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?!

Can't have been the end of October, because if you pick them after old Michael as (11th October), that's when the devil spits on them. Otherwise, it would be the most logical one.

No, he doesn't. Old Nick pisses on them at Michaelmas, because it's the Anniversary of the Archangel Michael kicking him out of Heaven, where he landed on his arse in a big clump of Brambles.

When I was in Scotland they seemed to ignore Easter as a holiday all together, I think they add the 2 weeks on to the summer holiday?

I'm sure we get a set 2 weeks at Easter and depending where Easter falls it would be within the 2 weeks or may be just after e.g. this year my ds has just finished week 1 of the Easter break and then he has another week plus Easter Monday off and then returns to school on Tuesday 19th April

We had the the Tattie Holidays as well. I'm old enough and grew up rurally enough that some of my pals actually spent that holiday howking up tatties, poor wee souls came back to school for a rest.

Is this thread making any one else think of that Kevin Bridges skit about Chad Hogan and Spring Break?

Agree with OP and everyone else. It's so thick.