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The increasing and annoying use of the word STAYCATION...

(95 Posts)
JaneJudge Thu 04-Aug-22 21:17:32

...to mean going on HOLIDAY in the UK

It used to mean staying at home and having 'holiday' from work and having day trips etc. HOW ON EARTH has it now meant going on AN ACTUAL HOLIDAY in THE UK

Since when has a holiday not been a HOLIDAY

grr

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 04-Aug-22 21:19:55

I think it’s easier than saying ‘we are holidaying in the U.K.’

It doesn’t mean we are staying at home and going out for day trips.

I don’t have a problem with it.

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 04-Aug-22 21:21:08

Just thought - is this a Political thing? As it’s under News and Politics.

JaneJudge Thu 04-Aug-22 21:22:51

oh they keep saying it on the news/weather

I just think going on holiday is going on holiday and where you are going is part of a longer conversation.

MaizieD Thu 04-Aug-22 21:39:48

I think it’s easier than saying ‘we are holidaying in the U.K.’

Could just say 'We're not going abroad'...

I do get JJ's point, though. A 'holiday' is time off from work or time off from the usual routine. It's not just a week in the Algarve or where ever.

Perhaps climate change and the need to cut down on flying all over the world might help to revive some of our dying resorts and generate some income for local economies...

(I'll have a little chunter to myself about that horrible word, 'staycation'. It's very ugly and derives from 'vacation', a word the British never/rarely use)

Norah Thu 04-Aug-22 21:40:31

We have a holiday home up North on the sea, I call that a staycation, not leaving the UK.

M0nica Thu 04-Aug-22 21:45:19

JaneJudge I agree with you, including your second post.

There is an assumption about it that suggests that staying in the UK for a holiday is something really weird, even though millions of people do that every year.

I think a staycation is a brilliant idea. It is amazing how much there can be to see within 50 miles of your home and it is a shame that more people don't do it. I did it in my young and impecunious days. I had a bedsit in Chalk Farm in north London, and I planned to go out to different suburbs of London every day and visit several places close to each other. I took a sandwich lunch and bought something quick and easy for supper. I had one of my best holiday's ever.

RichmondPark1 Thu 04-Aug-22 21:56:29

Where I come from taking time off work but staying at home is called 'Going to OurGate'.

Staycation is a cockentrice of a word from the same sickening genre as Brangelina and Brexit.

RichmondPark1 Thu 04-Aug-22 22:00:17

Wikipedia agrees with you JaneJudge.

"A staycation (a portmanteau of "stay" and "vacation"), or holistay (a portmanteau of "holiday" and "stay"), is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within day trip distance of their home and does not require overnight accommodation."

ARGH I'd never heard of 'holistay'. Going to have to pour myself a sherry now.

Grannybags Thu 04-Aug-22 22:05:44

I moan about the use of staycation (or should that be shout at the tv!) Really annoys me when they just mean having a holiday in the UK

Mind you now I've seen 'holistay'... that really is awful!!

Chewbacca Thu 04-Aug-22 22:11:22

cockentrice What a wonderful word that is Richmond! So much more fulsome and loaded with meaning that the measly "staycation"!

MawtheMerrier Thu 04-Aug-22 22:15:13

When I was a child people often couldn’t afford to go away for a holiday and the usual response to “Are you going away for your holidays this year?” was “We’re just going to have days out” which would mean a few day trips, often by coach (excursion buses) to the likes of North Berwick, Spittal or my favourite destination on the front of the bus - “Mystery” - in other words a Mystery Tour.
(Going abroad was very unusual, and seen as a bit “posh” )

Hollyhock1 Thu 04-Aug-22 22:25:58

To me, a staycation is time spent at home at holiday time. A holiday is a break anywhere in the world.

CanadianGran Thu 04-Aug-22 22:45:18

I agree that it means staying at home for your vacation. I know it is now being used as a domestic vacation rather than international in advertising, but anyone I know that has used the term meant it as staying at home and doing day trips.

As an aside, we use the term holiday as marked celebratory day off, like Easter or Labour Day, and vacation as time off from work.

cornergran Thu 04-Aug-22 22:55:45

Yes, it annoys me too. A staycation to me means a break from usual responsibilities while remaining at the home base with or without day trips. As well as being inaccurate to describe a holiday away from home in the UK it is often used in a second best sort of way.

Callistemon21 Thu 04-Aug-22 23:23:23

RichmondPark1

Where I come from taking time off work but staying at home is called 'Going to OurGate'.

Staycation is a cockentrice of a word from the same sickening genre as Brangelina and Brexit.

Yes, we're going to Argate this year!

Dinahmo Thu 04-Aug-22 23:53:20

When my DH and I first got together we joined the National Trust. In one week visiting Trust houses in and around London we managed to recoup the subscription and we had a great time.

Holidays when I was a child were either days out when we lived in Dorset or staying with relative in S Wales and sometimes GPs near Hampton Court. All of which we enjoyed.

Calendargirl Fri 05-Aug-22 07:15:51

Don’t get me started on ‘Annual Leave’ either.

(I know it has been discussed before).

FannyCornforth Fri 05-Aug-22 07:53:28

Yes, of course you are right Jane
It’s been going on for quite a while, but I think it’s misuse proliferated during the pandemic.
I haven’t been abroad for nearly 20 years.
And as you know, my next holiday will hardly be far flung! smile
I’ve also just had a whinge elsewhere about the misuse of the term Room 101.

Oldnproud Fri 05-Aug-22 07:54:59

I don't care whether it is used for holidaying from one's own home, or from elsewhere within one's home country.

To me, it can, logically, mean either. However, I simply dislike the word!

Cabbie21 Fri 05-Aug-22 08:43:03

There are so many beautiful and interesting places in the UK to visit and given climate change, we may well have warm weather too, so why go abroad?
But most people need to travel and be away from home to enjoy some of our lovely scenery, so that is hardly a STAY cation( horrible word).

RichmondPark1 Fri 05-Aug-22 10:32:12

why go abroad?

To experience different cultures, foods, landscapes, languages, architecture and to return having broadened your perspective, gained an understanding of the way others live and to look at your own country with fresh eyes.

TerriBull Fri 05-Aug-22 10:48:14

I thought maybe it meant staying in your own home and treating that time like a holiday.

NotSpaghetti Fri 05-Aug-22 10:53:50

I second that Richmond!
But I can still benefit from and thoroughly enjoy holidays here in the UK.

Also, Richmond, if you go from (say) a city in England to rural Wales, Scotland or Ireland (especially if it's not a tourist area) you can experience different cultures, foods, landscapes, languages, architecture and return having broadened your perspective...

JaneJudge Fri 05-Aug-22 10:57:16

RichmondPark1

*why go abroad?*

To experience different cultures, foods, landscapes, languages, architecture and to return having broadened your perspective, gained an understanding of the way others live and to look at your own country with fresh eyes.

Of course this is true but a lot of people go all inclusive and do not leave the resort (which is fine - everyone has a holiday which suits them) In fact my Aunt was looking at going to Egypt and the complex they were looking at was locked and you were not allowed to leave and I honestly couldn't think of anything worse sad in a ll holiday sense, obviously

I am pleased it irritates others as much as me smile