Is holiday a british word

Some times I mistake Holiday and vacation, the other day I was on this site englishclubclass.com and there was an article and it said Holiday in space. I got confused why he didn’t wrote vacation in space. Whats the diffrence between holiday and Vacation?

Thanks

Hi thanks a lot, maybe I am used more to the world vacation because it could be the t.v and films i see are from u.s.a and so I dont know much about the birtsh words much.

Thanks a lot!

soupdragon78 said:

Hi titutan.
Vacation is American English and holiday is British English. Other than that the two words mean the same thing. Which word to use just depends on who you are talking to.
Hope this helps.
Soup

This is correct. In Ae holiday is reserved for days that are of religious or national significance, they involve one or more days off from school or work.

Hello
what’s the difference between «holiday» and «vacation»?
maybe holiday is used in UK and vacation in US?
Thanks

Hi, all,

There are exceptions. ‘Holiday’ is more commonly used in the UK, and means literally that — time off work to be spent doing whatever you want.
‘Vacation’ here means again literally what it says — a place of work which is emptied of its inhabitants because they’re on holiday. Thus in several British universities, the periods when students are not actually required to be on campus are known as ‘vacation’. The assumption is that they may well still be working (!!!) but they’re simply ‘not present’. In Oxford, this is now abbreviated simply to ‘the Vac’. The summer holidays are known there as ‘the Long Vac’.

Sorry. Just thought I’d confuse everybody….

Patapan

Both terms are very common in the US, but they mean different things.

A holiday is a day off work or school. The day is chosen by the government or school (Christmas, Patriots Day, 4th of July, Labor Day).

A vacation you get to select the days.

There are exceptions to this. Some school vacations are set by the school. They differ from holidays by being longer that a day off.

Both terms are very common in the US, but they mean different things.

A holiday is a day off work or school. The day is chosen by the government or school (Christmas, Patriots Day, 4th of July, Labor Day).

A vacation you get to select the days.

There are exceptions to this. Some school vacations are set by the school. They differ from holidays by being longer that a day off.

Ok, thanks all…
but, languageGuy, let’s suppose that we meet in NYC and you ask me: » hi Nik, what are you doing here?» (better «here» or «in here»?)
What should I reply? I’m in NYC for a short?… vacation or holiday?

Thanks again

Ok, thanks all…
but, languageGuy, let’s suppose that we meet in NYC and you ask me: » hi Nik, what are you doing here?» (better «here» or «in here»?)
What should I reply? I’m in NYC for a short?… vacation or holiday?

Thanks again

I think that you can say either one and your meaning will be understood.

I’m in NYC on vacation. / I’m in NYC on a vacation.

I’m in NYC on holiday./ I’m in NYC on a holiday.

A quick overview of the most common usages of «holiday» in the UK:

Are you going on holiday this year?
Yes, we’re going to Tenerife for two weeks.

Why are you not at school today?
Because it’s the Easter Holidays

You had better finish that work today, because it’s a Bank Holiday tomorrow and no one will be in the office.

You are so tanned! Have you been on a sunbed?
No, I’ve just got back from my holidays in Spain.

In America, a holiday is a day when businesses and so on are closed, for example, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July and so on.
A vacation in America is the time one take off from work or school and perhaps travels for rest and recreation.
Let’s wait a minute for a Brit to come by, but I do belive they use the word «holiday» as the Americans use «vacation». I am not sure what they do with «vacation.»
Albert

PS And I don’t have any idea how the NZs or Australians use the terms. Maybe one will enlighten us.

what is the difference between holiday and vacation ?

Welcome to the forum, Akin. If you were to type the words «holiday» and «vacation» into the Dictionary Look-up at the top of the page, this is one of the threads that you would find on the subject:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=465601

You should always try that first because many, many subjects have been discussed more than once on the forum.

I’ve just got back from my holidays in Spain.

or

I’ve just got back from my holiday in Spain. ??

We have decided to take a vacation/rest/holiday.
We have decided to be on leave.

Hi,
Do all of the bolded words fit in the above and mean about the same as the second? Thanks.

Vacation and Holiday mean much the same, but holiday tends to be used more in BE while Vacation is definitely AE. «Rest», however, implies a much shorter break — a break in between two pieces of homework or a short nap in the afternoon, for example. Definitely not the same meaning as a holiday.
Also, «On leave» tends to mean you’ve been let off work by your boss so that you can take a holiday — so you can’t «decide» to be on leave. However, you can ask your boss to «give you leave» — and then you can go on holiday.

Hope that makes sense,
I.

UK view.

Dictionaries give vacation as US-EN. Holiday has religious roots of course and as far as I know vacation doesn’t.

In the UK there are offical holidays many of which are Christian «events» such as Easter and Christmas. Note that this dictionary’s only reference to a religious connection is St. Patrick’s day; Christmas doesn’t even get a look in!

The use of «I’m going on holiday» next week is very common. People say I’m going away for the Xmas hols.

Vacation is also used in the UK, the exposure to the US version of the language is high.. Would secularisation of language in official written documents encourage the use of vacation?.

GF..

What % common use in UK? No idea.

I’m with you, suzi br, on this one.

Rover
x

The average American would rarely use the word «holiday» in place of «vacation». (Anyone who said «where are you going on holiday this year?» would be thought hugely affected, and would be laughted at.) That being said, the word «holiday» is used commonly in other ways.

Agreed. Americans don’t use ‘holiday’ in place of ‘vacation’ (unless we’re imitating someone else’s dialect).

It’s much simpler here in the UK.

We never say ‘vacation’.

Rover

I think most people are quite likely to guess (because only one letter is different and even its replacement has the same sound) that holiday and holy day are related!!!

You are not suggesting that «secularization» can be defined as «anti-religion or anti-christianity», are you?

‘Vacation is also used in the UK, the exposure to the US version of the language is high.. Would secularisation of language in official written documents encourage the use of vacation?.’

We’d have to have quite a big overhaul of our language if we want to phase out all signs of religion from it. Holiday does not mean ‘holy day’ in any context. It would be literally incorrect to say ‘St Andrews’ day holiday’ for example, because there is no holiday, there is only a holy day. ‘Vacation’ is an American word, only used in Britain when mimicking American speech and in its proper sense of the making vacant of a location.

… and in its proper sense of the making vacant of a location.

You are probably referring to universities and courts and the like for this usage? When I was at university, there were people there during the «vacation» so it was by no means vacant, only parts of it were.
As, perhaps, one’s home might be vacant when one goes to one’s aunty’s house beside the seaside for the summer hols? Alternatively, some part (cubicle/office/workstation) of the workplace becomes vacant when someone goes on holiday — or vacation. It is simply a difference in usage, not an «improper» use in AmE

I am always puzzled when I hear a word used for centuries in Britian branded as «an American word»; where are Americans supposed to have gotten the word from, anyway?

American English has a number of non-English word sources, including American Indian language words for animals and geographic phenomena not found in Great Britain (opossum, raccoon), Spanish for southwestern geographic features not found in Great Britain (arroyo, mesa), cultural objects and phenomena adapted from the non-European inhabitants of North America (kayak), and words from many other languages, just as British English has picked up words from the native languages of their former colonies, especially India, that are unfamiliar to Americans. «Vacation» is not one of these words, however. Sometimes, American English preserves a word that British English has abandoned, and sometimes American English redefines a British word to fit American conditions. If GWB’s post about the history of «vacation» is correct, it appears to be a word whose meaning has been extended in the U.S. from its original sense but not in Britain. That doesn’t make it an «American word» or a corruption of the language, but it does mean that it has a particularly American use or sense that it does not have in Britain.

That is definitely not true. British universities and law courts have vacations, not holidays.

I found this site for Grifton, the University of Cambridge and they have «vacations» listed there. So it is not strictly speaking an American term.

http://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/students/guide/term-dates/

Vacation Residence

Staying in Residence outside the Tenancy Period

Students are welcome to stay up in College or Wolfson Court during the Long Vacation although please be aware that many of the normal facilities and services may not be available during these times.

Oxford and Cambridge and others have been having vacations for centuries They used to be called, at least in Oxford (and in legal circles they may have survived longer) after the terms they followed : Michaelmas, Hilary (Lent) and Trinity terms were followed by the same vacations. Copperknickers was apparently unaware of this and confused some of you I could therefore, technically, say that I never went «on holidays» while I was at Oxford