US vs UK "Holidays"

[dr_mabeuse]

In the UK a "holiday" is time off from work; what we in the US call a "vacation".

What, then, do you in the UK call days like Chistmas, Easter, etc.? Are these "holidays" too?

---dr.M.

 

[Weird Harold]

In the UK a "holiday" is time off from work; what we in the US call a "vacation".

What, then, do you in the UK call days like Christmas, Easter, etc.? Are these "holidays" too?

---dr.M.

I think that's what the term "Bank Holiday" is used for -- a day when banks are closed.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Re: Re: US vs UK "Holidays"

I think that's what the term "Bank Holiday" is used for -- a day when banks are closed.

So you mean you might say something like "All our family get together during the Bank Holidays?"

That sounds pretty damn cheery!

---dr.M.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Re: US vs UK "Holidays"

So you mean you might say something like "All our family get together during the Bank Holidays?"

Well, I wouldn't because I'm a Yank.

When I was stationed in England Most of my Brit acquaintances simply referred to national and religious holidays by name.

 

[Octavian]

Holidays

In the UK there are two sorts of holidays.

The first is what you Americans would call vacation. We might refer to them as Summer or Winter holidays.

There are other holidays such as Easter or Christmas which were essentially religious but then had an additional day tacked on eg Easter Monday or Boxng Day (the day after Christmas Day).
There are now other days when we do not go to work (unless you happen to work in a shop!) eg a Monday in Spring, the first Monday in May and a Monday in late August . Strictly speaking only non religious days where you don't go to work are Bank Holidays but basically all days where there is a national holiday are now referred to as Bank Holidays. And that is still the collective term for them.

But people tend not to use this term on specifics. They are more likely to ask what someone is doing over the Christmas or Easter.

And on that note I wish everyone a Merry Bank Holiday!


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