I have just come back from a week on 'holiday' and have been corrected by a couple of colleagues for saying 'holiday' rather than 'vacation'. They have been a bit stumped when I have pointed out that we work for a company called 'P****** Holidays', not 'P****** Vacations'.

The other one that gets me is that you buy ground coriander, but fresh cilantro

Others stupid words please.

Coriander is the seed.

Anyway, I know certain word variations are daft... but when in Rome, you'd speak Italian. We're in America so its best to speak "American" at times.

...

I'm American, so I always wondered about this difference between Holday and Vacation. In the UK, if Holday = Vacation, how do you specify that it's a real Holiday day (like Christmas Day), as opposed to a Vacation (just a normal day that you take off for fun)?

In American English, it's clear....Holidays are only a handful of specific dates on the calendar, while Vacations are any day throughout the year that you choose to not work.

How do you make that distinction in the UK if the only word you use is Holiday?

Rene

Because for one of them you're pissed all by yourself, and for the other one your pissed but surrounded by people that you have thought about running over accidentally.

In the UK we call most of the holiday days by their name, ie Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day or alternatively Bank Holidays. Holidays are what you personally take off.

Yes, I get confused when people say 'which is your favourite holiday'? etc. I can't quite get my head around Halloween' being a holiday, nobody I know gets Halloween off of work. Then Christmas is generally known as "the Holidays' why?

Is it a new thing? The company I work for is 50 years old and in its name its 'Holidays' we don't arrange Christmas, we arrange trips to Hawaii.

Gas and petrol is quite confusing, especially if cars running on gas become more popular.

We call 'em by their names here too, because with a few exceptions, the dates always change,

Ah, I know who you work for,

In my old job, we'd use the word "leave". Of course, that assumes that the distinction is only relevant in the context of employment.

and of course we use that term too, in the military, , but then I take a LWOP day every week.

the holidays are usually called Bank holidays in the UK.
personal holidays are just holiday or annual leave.

Hey there MsE' is it just me, or did you become a moderator while I wasn't looking?

you have to watch these quiet ones. I bow to her superior multitasking, bless her heart!!!!