STOP saying holibobs!

[MyDadWasAnArse]

And for reference, going to Northumberland for two weeks when you live in Burnley isn't a staycation it's a holiday, caller to the radio earlier!

I'm thinking of starting a new political party with changing this back as our only goal. We cannot let their incorrect usage win.

I said it was only on Mumsnet that people got worked up about it. Also, it is a new term anyway. I don't know why people get so angry about it. To me, a UK holiday isn't really a proper holiday, which is why I like the term. I suppose one could say 'domestic holiday' but 'staycation' works just as well and actually sums up the feeling of being on holiday yet not.

Similarly, I can’t bear people calling M&S Marksies. 🤬

Probably the same people who changed the meaning of Americano. Now you have to get in straightaway with "no milk" when you ask for one 😫.

People are just as annoyed in real life, but they're only saying it behind your back! That's true of anything that you 'only hear on Mumsnet'.

I don't know why people get so angry about it. To me, a UK holiday isn't really a proper holiday

This is a great couple of sentences. I don't know why...and then the reason why straight after. It's because it's disrespectful to people who can only afford/facilitate UK holidays. How dare you consider someone's hard earned break in Cornwall or the Lake District or anywhere else 'not a properly holiday'. What a short sighted and self involved attitude to have.

And it doesn't work well as we've already established the word Staycation now has two completely different meanings! A word with one clear meaning works well. Like, you know, 'holiday', which means you're leaving your house to go and stay somewhere else for fun or relaxation.

AliceMaforethought

People get worked up about it because we remember it fondly from our use in eg the 80s when we stayed home but went to the zoo, for a hike up the mountains, and or for a cycle on different days. We couldn’t afford to spend a few days elsewhere, but used our homes as a base to still get out. People saying‘I couldn’t go abroad this year, I just had a staycation and went (100 miles away) for a week’ seems to lessen the impact of what a staycation was- I think that’s why I hold it so dear anyway!

Famalam and Facey B, Platty Joobs and doggo. I don’t know why but they all make me think aw. I don’t say them but there’s something quite cheery about them. We say hoddlies cos one of the former toddlers was so very excited about them that it stuck. When we don’t go on holiday we take a trip to HamellDaeMe. Load of drivel 😂

How on earth is it 'disrespectful'? I am not policing other people's use of the term, I am merely stating what I feel myself. Also, UK holidays aren't necessarily any cheaper than foreign ones! Part of what I don't like about them is that I feel that they are a rip off!

Does the term really date as far back as the eighties? I'm not at all sure that it does, whether you use it to mean 'day trips from home' or 'domestic holiday'. The word 'vacation' was only used in the UK at all from the nineties or so, it is an Americanism anyway.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/11/30/health/menty-b-social-media-language-wellness-cec

If you don't know why it's disrespectful/rude/shortsighted to tell people that you have to use the word Staycation when you holiday in the UK because you don't consider any UK based break as a 'proper holiday' then I can't help you.

It's one you need to think about until you get it.

Well, I don't consider it a proper holiday. You don't get the lovely feeling of the plane landing on foreign soil, or any of the sense of excitement, in my view. However, I don't sit comparing notes with my friends. If people feel as if they've been on holiday after a week somewhere in the UK, bully for them! I just don't share that sentiment. Luckily, my friends aren't the kind of people to take offense at others' preferences and choices.

AliceMaforethought

We definitely used it in the 80s!!

Ok so I have never been on a "proper holiday" according to you....

What's Menty B?

You're not me, though, so that doesn't matter, does it!? If it feels like a holiday to you, then it is a holiday. I've been on both and as I say, I don't like domestic holidays so the 'staycation' term feels apt to me. I'm not dictating how others feel about their own breaks. Only one 'side' is getting angry, and it isn't my side.

It really isn't.

Staycation is supposed to be a holiday where you stay at home. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word has been around since 1944 and meant exactly that, a holiday at home. It wasn’t used to mean a holiday I. Your home country until 2008 and then wasn’t popularised until the 2020s initially as a common misuse which has become a recognised use due to the volume of people getting it wrong.

I hate the creep of things in general in language where the attitude these days seems to be ‘oh well, so many people are using it that way me might as well change the meaning’. I do understand that language is a living thing but surely there has to be a line somewhere otherwise everyone just makes up their own meanings for everything.

So what's the opposite of staycation? Awaycation?

It's hardly fair that only those going abroad get to use the word 'holiday'. Maybe they're jealous they can't afford two weeks in a hotel in Cornwall, Turkey etc being so much cheaper!

I actually think that the 'staycation' controversy is a perfect example of language legitimately evolving. I agree that some usage is simply incorrect (for example, people who say 'borrow' for lend will never be correct, even if that is common usage in some regions) 'Staycation' is a new word as it is, the 'domestic holiday' way I and many others use it is barely any newer that the way that the 'day trips from home' people use it. I think that makes a difference, it is merely a different usage, with neither being correct nor incorrect.

I agree. Whether or not it's intended, it does suggest a needlessly very superior, sneery attitude.

It's a bit like insisting on routinely referring to all cars over a certain age as 'jalopies'; or calling all non-designer clothes 'rags'.

Your "little famalam", surely...

'Staycation' is a new word as it is, the 'domestic holiday' way I and many others use it is barely any newer that the way that the 'day trips from home' people use it. I think that makes a difference, it is merely a different usage, with neither being correct nor incorrect.

But why would you even think to need a different word, unless you're actively trying to belittle UK holidays - of the sort that a great many people can only ever afford to go on (or do for other personal circumstances), and enjoy very much?

"We're off on our holiday next week."
"Ooh, lovely - where are you going?"
"California/Pembrokeshire/Ibiza/Bangkok/the Lake District"
"Sounds great - hope you have a wonderful time!"

To me, if somebody going on an actual UK holiday felt the inclination to refer to it as their 'staycation', that would indicate to me that they're at pains to point out that it's not their 'real, proper holiday' - lest anybody should think badly of them.

It reminds me of the people who will always unnecessarily say "I need to charge my iPhone" or "I'm nipping out to get some super unleaded petrol for my BMW" - unless you're Alan Partridge, it's just tedious extra detail designed to try to put yourself in a better light.

Spot on! It always strikes me as "we're slumming it with the plebs"

Probably around the pandemic when everyone started going on staycations