We call them all "half term" here..

[Acc0untant]

And apparently I'm unreasonable. I see comment after comment about "it's not half term, that happens half way through each term" but ever since I was a child I, and everyone I know, calls each holiday a half term other than summer and Christmas. My parents and the parents of my friends (bearing in mind I'm in my 30s) have always done this.

Is it regional? I'm in the midlands. It's not just students/parents here, teachers use it this way, our school communications. Not even just my experience with one school, it was the same at my secondary school, my daughter's primary and secondary, my other child's nursery etc.

For us this is because we have a holiday after every half of a term, not that the holiday is half way within the term.

I appreciate that this wasn't the original intention of the phrase but at what point do we accept it's fine to use? Same as staycation originally meaning to do day trips from home rather than a UK holiday, it's now been used for both for so long that it's colloquially acceptable for both meanings.

Please no bun fights, I can't be bothered. I appreciate the pedantry with things such as this (and I can be that way with other stuff) but I'd really just like a nice, chilled conversation about it.

Do you say half term for almost all holidays? What region are you from? Would enjoy seeing if there's a correlation.

Might be regional. Have never heard this!

It's regional. I moved to the midlands from elsewhere in the UK and was surprised by it at first. I don't know why people get such a bee in their bonnet about it though! It doesn't stop you understanding what people mean.

This is interesting!

I'm on the Midlands/South West border, we call the longer holidays Christmas, Easter and Summer. We call the shorter, one week holiday, half way through each term 'half term'. This was the same when I was at school (many years ago!) in the South East.

So you call the holidays in the summer "summer holidays", the holidays at Christmas "Christmas holidays" and the holidays at Easter "half term"?

My partner is from further north and they always called one of the weeks Whitsun week but until I met him I'd never heard it called that. Certainly not common here at all.

Londoner here. So it’s only Easter that you’re getting ‘wrong’? 😜 All your other half terms are indeed half terms (halfway through the term).

Yep exactly.

I really don't think it matters. Until today I hadn't thought anything of it. People say both where I live. I'm in the South West.

I don’t think we called anything half term, certainly not the Easter holidays. I’m in Scotland.

What were they called when you were a child though?
It seemed to start a few years ago.

(My children have attended school in North Yorkshire, London, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, plus Forces schools. It wasn't used for Easter or Christmas there.

DH calls the May half term Spring Bank as that was what it was called in West Yorkshire,l

I've heard "Christmas half-term" too, but summer isn't called that ever. My mum (also from further north) says Whitsun for the summer half term too!

And apparently I'm unreasonable. I see comment after comment about "it's not half term, that happens half way through each term" but ever since I was a child I, and everyone I know, calls each holiday a half term other than summer and Christmas.

So actually you are only calling one holiday 'half term' incorrectly then? Seems a bit odd to call the other main ones (presumably) 'Christmas holidays' and 'Summer holidays' but arbitrarily decide to call the Easter holidays 'half term' rather than 'Easter holidays' . The other 3 all actually are half term holidays.

I'm Scottish too, agree it's not a phrase that's ever used here, it's just the February/Easter/tattie October holidays.

A local travel agent (NE) advertising on FB calls all the holidays 'half term' and for some reason it really annoys me. For me, we have October half term, Christmas, Feb half term, Easter, May half term then the summer holidays. Only 3 half terms per school year

It doesn't bother me to the point I'd correct someone, but it's wrong!

Never heard of this! Grew up in outer London, now East Anglia. I suppose it makes sense in a roundabout way, but surely it's quite confusing if you're planning things to do in the holidays?

I'm in the Midlands but have lived in various parts of the UK. I've only ever seen people referring to the Easter holiday as half term on Mumsnet. Everyone I know in RL calls it the easter holiday.

I still call it Whitsun. When I was at school in the 60s it was different to the other half terms; they were only a two-day break (Monday and Tuesday) where as Whitsun was a whole week. What joy.

I'm from the Midlands and grew up with teacher parents.

The only half term holidays were the week in the middle of term. The rest were the Christmas holidays, the Easter holidays and the summer holidays. Always. Even the local authorities referred to them as such. Anything else is wrong.

People who wrongly say half term perhaps have never had children?

I teach & we always refer to Christmas, Easter & summer holidays with half term being October, February & May.

Tattie holidays used to actually be for tattie picking, before child labour became unfashionable. We used to make a ton of money but it was hard work.

I'm SE and work at a school I always call them half term. My friend corrected me once though. I think a lot just say school holidays. Technically half term ones are the ones midway through each term so October , Feb and May.

Round here if it's one week off it's normally half term, two weeks is end of term and the six weeks off is just referred to as summer holidays.

Applies to state schools as private have longer in some cases.

I try and not let it bother me but annoys me as it isn't half way through the term.