Need a day off, a holiday, or a vacation? Do you want to go on vacation or take a vacation? We all need time for ourselves, but first, you must know how to ask for it!
In some places, each of these terms has a different meaning. If you want to know which one you should use for every occasion, don't miss all the information we have brought for you!
American English
In American English, holiday, vacation, and day off are used in three different ways to talk about special dates or time off from work and school.
Holiday
Depending on the culture and the country, special dates are celebrated throughout the year. These days of celebration are called holidays. Some examples of holidays are Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, Father's Day, and Valentine's Day.
Here are some examples of how to use the word holiday:
“Today is a holiday, Father’s Day, but I still must go to work”
“My favorite holiday is Christmas”
Holiday refers to the specific day of the celebration. However, if there are days off from work or school due to the holiday, that period is called vacation.
Vacation
A vacation is an extended amount of time off. It can last from three or five days to several weeks and has no specific reason. That is, they may be due to a special holiday but not necessarily so.
When vacations are due to the holiday, we can use that specific holiday and the word vacation in the same sentence. We say for example ‘Christmas vacations’ when talking about all the days off we get for the holiday, not only the day itself.
This means the holiday is Christmas Day, but Christmas vacation is the amount of time around that day that you don’t have to go to school or work.
These are some examples of how the word vacation is nicely used:
“I’ve been working too hard; I need to take a vacation.”
“How many days off do we get for Christmas vacation?”
“Let’s go on vacation this summer.”
As you can see, two common ways to use the word vacation are the phrases “take a vacation” or “go on vacation”. To take a vacation means that you will take a break from work or school for a certain amount of time, but it doesn’t mean you are going somewhere.
However, to go on vacation means exactly that you are planning to take a trip or go somewhere to enjoy your free time. Let's look at a couple more examples:
“I think I’ll take a week-long vacation next month and just stay at home and relax”
This is just about stopping working but nothing about traveling.
“Let’s go on vacation, should we go to the beach, or should we go skiing?”
This refers not only to stopping working or going to school but it also encompasses that someone is heading someplace else.
Day Off
As you can see, vacation involves a considerable period for you to stop working or studying. If that period is only one day, we call it a day off. It is a day that you don’t have to go to school or work.
You can get a day off on Father’s Day or another holiday, but you can also get a day off for many different reasons. For example, if your school is closed for repairs it is not a holiday, there is no celebration or an important day around that, just a day off.
Let’s look at some examples using day off:
“Is Friday a day off?”
“Monday is a day off because they have to close the office to repair the air conditioning.”
In both of these examples, we are not talking about holidays. We are just referring to a day employees must skip office.
So far we have talked about these three expressions and how they are used in American English. In short, any day when you are not supposed to go to work or school for any reason is a day off.
If you have several days or weeks off then it is a vacation, while a day of special celebration is what we call a holiday. You can have a day off or vacation because of a holiday, but you can only call the celebration day itself a holiday. However, this changes when it comes to British English.
British English
In British English, same as in American English, holiday is used to refer to a special date of celebration, but it is also used to talk about a day or a long period when people must not go to work or school for whatever reason. This means that the use of the word holiday in British English has a broader spectrum.
So now let’s look at the same sentences previously used in American English examples but using the British way!
“Today is a Holiday, Father’s Day, but I still must go to work” It is the same as the American version.
“My favorite holiday is Christmas” Also used in the same way.
So far so good! Here it is when it gets tricky:
“I’ve been working too hard, I need to take a holiday”
What do you think it means? This is the expression of a person in need of a long time off from work.
That’s the British version of what Americans call a vacation. See the examples:
“How many days off do we get for the Christmas holiday?”
“Let’s go on holiday this summer.”
“Let’s go on holiday, should we go to the beach, or should we go skiing?”
When they say “go on holiday” they are talking about going somewhere in their free time. It is the British version of American’s “go on vacation”.
Now, what about “I think I’ll take a week-long holiday next month and just stay at home and relax”? This person is thinking about taking a week out of work and going nowhere but home. This represents the British version of “take on vacation”.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, in British English, the word holiday is much more versatile and can be used as a substitute for vacation and day off, whereas in American English each of these words has its own meaning and usage.
We hope this information has helped you and don't forget to take some time for yourself!