To get irritated by people who call every school holiday Half Term?

[sorrynotathome]

How can you not know that the half term holiday is in the middle of the term? After the first half and before the second half. At the end of term is the Easter, Summer or Christmas holidays. Do some people think Half Term is an English word for schools being closed? Now I’ve typed term so much it’s started to look weird.

I've answered a person wrongly around this time of year because she asked me about half term, so I told her about my plans for Whitsun. She then looked a bit confused (and I thought she was a bit ahead of herself, but she's an organised type) and I realised from her confusion that she meant the next holiday which can be summarised by the neat word "Easter".
She even worked at that school 🤦‍♀️

My DCs have a different term structure to me, so they're about to have a shorter "half term" whereas I'll have the traditional 2-week Easter. It's just called Easter in our house although "half-term" is technically correct at their school, but it's somewhat of an anomally locally.

The change in terminology seemed to start just before "staycation" started replacing British holidays.

Yes I think it makes people sound really thick, like they don't consider the meanings of the words coming out of their mouths...it used to cause me real confusion with organising staff leave. I think it's quite a recent thing; nobody used to say this when I was younger! Even my dd (26) said it the other day when referring to Easter holidays, and both she and her partner work in schools! I just don't get it.
Some posters are referring to people without children but I am talking about people with children asking when's half-term when they mean when's the next school holiday?

Half term is called half term, because most of the holidays, or a good portion of them were half term. There were less terms per year, and we had half term holidays. Technically now, there are no half term holidays, you just have more shorter terms.

Christmas, Easter and the summer holidays are definitely not half terms! It really annoys me when people refer to them as half term. I just assume that these people are complete idiots.

I’ve found my people 😊 always thought it was just me that got irrationally mad at this

I worry about their basic maths skills...2 halves make a whole. 6 halves make 3. 3 what if there are no full terms only 'half ' terms?

But they’re not, if the school has 6 terms!

I am guilty of calling everything a half term... More because it has less syllables and is easier to roll off the tongue with a snappy "half-term" than "the-Ea-ster-hol-i-days", with it's 6 syllables...

OMG this annoys me too. DH does it! It causes real-life problems. Like when he tells me he’s booked half term off work so if I book it too we can go away. So I book it - only to find he meant Easter Break!

One of my children's primary school began referring to Easter as half term and it just spread i almost missed Easter this year because the locals were talking about half term and next term etc I asked if I had missed Easter and got a bunch of confused looks turns out that was the half term they were talking about

But you are saying the wrong thing completely. And potentially confusing people with your error. Does that not bother you?

I get the rage when people call local holidays a Bank Holiday and then get annoyed when it is actually a processing day and scheduled payments have left their account

Well, I don't do it intentionally.... I just think my brain goes to harm term automatically, like more of a Freudian slip.

Why not call it a "break" then? Even fewer syllables!

I’m guilty of this, think I even used to do it as a kid, summer hols and then everything else being half term

So glad it’s not just me who finds this infuriating!

Half-term holidays are the ones half way through each of the three terms. It’s not hard. The new six term thing muddies the waters a bit (and is also annoying).

The change in terminology seemed to start just before "staycation" started replacing British holidays.

I will fight to the death on that, @UrgentScurryfunge ! Assume you agree that it means staying at home and doing day trips!? Not going on holiday anywhere in your entire home country!?

Full moon, 'alf moon, total eclipse? 🤣

Same! As a parent and a teacher it really irritates me, which I know is irrational and I irritate myself by being irrationally irritated by it 🤣

As a teacher. No. It doesn't bother me and I hear this all the time. Frankly I have bigger things to worry about.

It’s very irritating. Along with people who call Inset days ‘INSECT days’. Wtf do they think the staff are doing? Looking for ladybirds in the playground?

YANBU. I was saying this last night to DP and I dont know where this trend started but it seems new to me. It confuses the meaning of "half term" entirely. I'm hearing it all the time but specifically, we received a leaflet (produced by the county council) through school yesterday. It had the title "Spring Half Term Holiday Activities". Doesn't that mean February half term? No it was about activities in April during the Easter holidays. Its getting confusing.

Didn’t think it would have been too long ago it was referred to as that. My mother left school in 1979 and she used to call that half term,”Whitsun” when I was at school in the 90s/2000s. 7th Sunday after Easter if I remember rightly.

Do people really not know when Whitsun is? I wonder if my kids do...
As for not knowing what time of year it is, that's just silly.
And yes, calling Easter half term gives me the rage. DH did it once. Once only 😂