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Who doesn’t love a holiday?
Well, firstly, Americans. They don´t even use up the holiday days that they are entitled to. They are like human squirrels, gathering nuts for the winter.
Work!
Work!
Work!
And secondly, (again) Americans.
Well, because they don’t even use the word holiday to describe those few days the rest of us spend lying around on a beach getting sunburned. They say vacation. They always have to be different. More on this LATER.
While not many explanations for this difference exist, let’s just say that songs such as Madonna’s Holiday or Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday would not have rolled off the tongue quite as easily if the lyricists had used the word vacation. Try replacing the word “holiday” with “vacation” in Madonna’s 1983 iconic hit.
It goes from a HIT to a MISS.
Holiday 1 – 0 Vacation
The word holiday appears in a very early form in the Lindisfarne Bible around the year 950 A.D.
Even then, monks wanted their holidays.
And they wanted a word to describe them.
In those days, English folk (there were no Americans, such as we know them today, in 950 A.D.), used the word Häeligdæg, with Häelig being “holy” and dæg being “day.
So, that gives us a “holy day”.
They were days when the hard-working farmers and labourers would be delighted to have the opportunity not to work, even if it meant attending church and honouring the holiness of the holy day in question. Anything to get a sleep in and be allowed to have a glass of ale or better still, five.
Holy Days rocked.
They were a thing!
And nothing was going to stop them.
By 1200, the word for these “resting days”, had mutated to haliday and by the 1500s, the first examples of modern day holiday started to appear. Madonna’s hit Holiday wouldn’t hit the charts until 1983.
And the holidays of yore were not like holidays as we know them today. Holiday fun was pretty much restricted to church and your own home.
There were no low-cost airlines.
There wasn’t any AirBnB accommodation in the 16th century either.
And no shopping malls.
Or shopping centres, if you prefer to use the Queen’s English.
Gradually, as time went by, the word began to lose its religious connotations and started to acquire its current significance:
#a day of rest and leisure.
As for vacation, who do we have to thank for this word?
Well, this word, meaning empty or idle entered Middle English as /va-ca-ci-oun/, replacing the existing Anglo-Norman word /va-ca-ci-on/, which itself was a modification of the Latin /va-cā-ti-ō/, which indicated that a person was free not to work.
Quite a LUXURY back in those days.
When did America make the break with the U.K and start using vacation instead of holiday?
There are lots of theories.
Some might even be considered conspiracy theories.
My favourite is the following. I think it seems the most realistic.
You see, there are those who say that Noah Webster, the father of the first American English dictionary has something to do with it. By choosing alternative spellings to what was commonly accepted in the U.K. when producing his dictionary, he inadvertently reduced American dependence on the British publishing industry while at the same time bolstering America’s nascent publishing industry. If we’re honest, nobody can be quite sure WHY he did it. Maybe he just wanted to annoy the Brits or maybe he just did it because he felt like it.
Americans do use the word “holiday”. It refers to “time off” that affects everyone, so Thanksgiving and Christmas are “holidays” and not “vacations”.
HOW HAVE HOLIDAYS EVOLVED OVER TIME?
Middle Ages – people went on pilgrimage. Yes, they walked, and they prayed. And then they walked home. Rain, hail or shine.
18th Century – people (rich people), went to spas and bathed in the healing spring waters.
19th Century – people (and by people, I mean “the wealthy”) travelled to the sea. Seawater was said to have healing qualities.
20th Century - holidays became available to most people. Summer camps were set up and “package holidays” became the norm. Cheap and cheerful with a plane or ferry thrown in for good measure.
21st Century – space Travel takes off.
But holidays aren’t the only things to have evolved.
English has evolved in the way it describes different and new types of holidays.
Have you ever heard of a staycation?
Can you guess what a daycation is?
And… what the hell is a greycation and do we REALLY want to have one?
STAYCATIONS
Let’s get one thing straight at this point. There are more American English speakers on planet earth than British English speakers, and thanks to their television, movies and music, we have all become familiar with new words they have invented. Like staycation.
It’s a mix of stay and vacation.
Just as speakers of the Queen’s English might speak of a holistay.
Anyway, whatever version of this new word you choose to adopt, you’ll be talking about a holiday you have in your own city or region.
A staycation should contain all the things that a normal holiday has:
· the beach
· donkey rides
· ice cream cones
· amusement parks
· museums
· late nights
· FUN, FUN, FUN in general.
Everything is the same as it would be on a normal holiday, except that there are no accommodation costs. Staycationers sleep in their own homes every night. It’s clever, isn´t it? And practical! And you get to know your own area better. Just DON’T be tempted to pop into the office.
I am WARNING you!
DAYCATIONS
This is the extreme version of staycations. When you see the word “extreme” you should always worry, and if you really like your holidays… then you are not going to like daycations.
They are staycations.
Staycations for people who really don’t even have enough time to take a full-on staycation.
These are not quite as innovative as they seem. They are ONE DAY STAYCATIONS. Even back in Medieval times, people used their precious holy days to walk to a distant church, pray and return home on the same day. High speed trains and organized coach travel have made daycations a lot more varied and fun.
And now to the scary concept of GREYCATIONS.
Well, not scary, as such.
Just maybe not something that you would want to choose, voluntarily.
GREYCATIONS
These are holidays where various generations of a family share a holiday, to save money.
Young couples with children love nothing more than having their parents with them.
To babysit
To get the kids up (when they have a hangover)
To play with the kids
To discipline their kids, if they get a little hyperactive
To pay for their fair share of the holiday
Some grandparents don’t even get the opportunity to “get away” for their greycation. Their children’s and grandchildren’s greycation turns into their staycation as everything is based out of their home.
Happy families, eh!
AND NOW FOR THE GRAMMAR PART
So, here’s something for the grammar rats!
We can use holiday in both the singular and plural forms, like this:
Next week, there is a public holiday.
St Patrick’s Day and St Stephen’s Day are holidays in Ireland.
I have just booked our family holiday.
We have had many holidays, but my favourite was the trip to Croatia.
We do NOT use the plural form after the preposition on.
X We were on holidays when the tornado struck.
√ We were on holiday when the tornado struck.
All that’s left to do now is to start booking your time off, whether that’s a full-blown holiday, an American-style vacation, a staycation, a daycation or even a greycation. Enjoy your free time and look out for English, EVERYWHERE!
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