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.

I've never heard anyone call easter hols half term

Like people confusing your/you're. Using ect instead of etc. Doesn't mean we go round calling those who do it dumbasses.

This feels like it makes sense but I sometimes say the opposite.

Donyou have roast dinner for Sunday lunch?

We had dinner ladies at school, but in our house we had lunch and tea.. The only exception being Christmas dinner!

They're not intentional mistakes.

A half term is halfway through a term to me with Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays being the others. But no idea if that is true for all regions. I’m not from the midlands.

Once went to Scotland and they referred to October break as Tattie holidays... 😆

Honestly the length you're going to in order to defend calling people dumbasses is crazy.

Still called the tattie holidays although kids haven't gone tattie picking for years.

I have to comment as I saw my my neice today and asked her how her half term was, and then I wondered to myself if it's called something different now, and now I've come across this post 😂
I think I even call Christmas half term if I'm at work talking about how quiet the roads are. Summer holidays are always summer holidays but that's it.
I'm based in London btw

Well it’s Christmas/ easter / summer holidays - everything else is half term. Unless its Whit, the secret 2 week northern holiday last week may , first week June - when ‘the north’ all get a cheap holiday!

Potatoes, if you please ☺️

Secondary school kids get 12 weeks off here so that wouldn't work!

We say mid-term break for holidays in the middle of term and I have heard people refer to the Easter holidays as mid-term.

Same. Live and grew up in the Wedt Midlands.

I did tattie picking once aged 13 and was mightily relieved when it pished rain and we got sent home - I never went back.

2 weeks in October are always still tattie holidays, never half term.

Just to throw a curve ball in...In 2007 Easter fell early and our local authority (Harrow) decided to have the Easter weekend and the two-week holidays separately. As teachers this was amazing -a long weekend and then two weeks off two weeks later. I think this should have been adopted going forwards - with a set date for the spring break every year (since the May half-term break is always the same week, and therefore can cause very a short or very long half term for Summer 1, depending on where Easter falls).

So what would this holiday that wasn't at Easter be called? I think we ended up calling it the "not-Easter break" but officially it was just the spring holiday.

Technically a half-term is block of teaching time. The holiday is the "half-term holiday/break". When we say "next half-term" in schools we mean the next half-term of teaching after the holiday.

Well, I'm a self-confessed pedant,
Birmingham born and bred, and it brings my gears to hear people using the wrong words or terminology. My family has always said 'half term' when referring to the February, June and October 'half term' holidays and 'end of term' for the Easter, Summer and Xmas 'end of term' holidays.

I also hate this new use of the term 'Staycation', I would only ever use it for staying at home and doing a couple of day trips, whereas 'going on holiday to (somewhere within this country)' is how I'd describe a UK holiday.

Probably true in a professional setting, but “at half term” is also used by every teacher I’ve ever know socially (including relatives) as short for “at the half term holiday”. Which is general usage.

I am originally from Sheffield and we had Whitsun. Then I moved to an industrial area in Lancashire and we had two weeks off at the end of May called Wakes weeks. It was when the factories closed down to give all the workers a holiday break. As a teacher then it was great for a foreign holiday at that time .of year and cheaper

This is exactly what's happened with some of south Yorkshire this time! They've been at school this week

I'm assuming northern Ireland?! I'm sure my friend's kids break up for summer around end of June?

Maybe ROI?
DS will be off from the end of May until the end of August.

Sort of. I’d always say ‘next term’ when talking about the first half of the next whole term if speaking before the end of term holidays, and ‘next half term’ about the second bit of a full term. But I can see that ‘next half term’ does work for both. But the half term holiday is definitely the one that comes after half a full term and before the next half of a full term - so October,February and May. In England and Wales. I realise the patterns in Scotland and NI are different.

@Acc0untant in scotland we dont call in a bank holiday at easter. it isnt really recognised as that. we call it easter monday even though we know the banks are closed. the schools are not alway off. in fact our local schools return on monday after being off for 2 weeks for easter holidays