Son términos similares, pero no exactamente iguales en significado. Británicos y estadounidenses los utilizan de manera diferente.
Let’s talk about holidays! In British English, you go ‘on holiday’, but in American English, you go ‘on vacation’. A holiday is literally one day: it means a ‘holy day’ and it was originally a religious festival. Christmas, for example, is a holiday, or ‘holy day’, and so is Easter.
Holidays are plural and they refer to more than one day. There are the summer holidays and the winter holidays, or Christmas holidays, and there are also the Easter holidays.
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
Even though the Americans prefer the term ‘vacation’, they also use the word ‘holiday’. This is usually one day.
The country has many national or federal holidays. There’s New Year’s Day (January 1st), Martin Luther King’s birthday (the third Monday in January), George Washington’s birthday (the third Monday in February), Memorial Day (the last Monday in May), Independence Day (July 4th), Labor Day (the first Monday in September), Columbus Day (the second Monday in October), Veterans’ Day (November 11th), Thanksgiving Day (the fourth Thursday in November) and Christmas Day (December 25th).
Many of these holidays are on Mondays: this is so that people can enjoy a long weekend’s rest from work. In Europe people have long holidays, but the Americans are less lucky. They don’t have ‘long holidays’ – or ‘long vacations’.
Cómo pedir comida en inglés en un restaurante
THE HOLIDAY SEASON
Even though the Americans ‘go on vacation’, and not ‘on holiday’, they do have a ‘holiday season’. This is in late December and early January. The British call this ‘the Christmas season’, or the ‘Christmas holidays’.
The Americans prefer the expression ‘holiday season’ because they don’t want to offend the country’s non-Christian population. Jewish people don’t celebrate Christmas: they celebrate ‘Hanukkah’, or the Festival of Lights. The USA also has many Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, other religious groups and atheists.
Britain also has a multicultural population, but people are less worried. In December the British will say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,” or “season’s greetings.” The Americans will say “happy holidays.”
GLOSSARY
holy day: día santo
Easter: Pascua
Labor Day: día del trabajo o de los trabajadores
rest: descanso
even though: aunque
to worry: preocuparse