In the US the word "Holiday" is short for "Public Holiday". The term "Vacation" is used in place of what we would call Holiday (or Recreation/Annual Leave). By the way the standard annual vacation leave is 2 weeks (as opposed to our 4 weeks).
The term "Holidays" roughly corresponds to our Festive Season. It comprises of the 3 public holidays: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day, and all the days in between. Retailers & Co have coined the phrase "Happy Holidays". This phrase has become the catch-cry of the season. So much so that in some places it has replaced "Merry Christmas" and Christmas Eve has even become Holiday Eve. Although the word "Holiday" originates from the words "Holy Day" I don't think that was on the minds of the inventors of the phrase. Another explanation might be they are trying to be non-denominational, theoretically including Hanukkah.
Either way if you say "I'm going on Holidays" don't be surprised if you get a blank stare.
<...>Americans start at a new job getting only 2 weeks a year vacation. If they are good they might work their way up to 3 weeks and if they are in an executive position they can get to (gasp) 4 weeks. Academic institutions have much more leave than industry (as everywhere I guess).<...> -- Julian Elischer (Feb 1996).
<...>whereas Australians want to work less (hours), Americans want to work more & get the overtime. When I told some Americans that Australian unions pushed for a shorter working week so that they could have more leisure (or "lee-sure") time, they were absolutely dumbfounded.<...> -- Justin Ridge (Feb 96)
<...>I've never in my life heard Christmas Eve referred to as Holiday Eve. Nor do I think that most advertisers include Hannukah with Christmas.<...> -- Cathleen Foster (Feb 96)
<...>I am a Texan, so I may not have heard of some new Californian expression, but I've never heard anyone use the term "Holiday Eve" to refer to Christmas Eve.<...> -- Eric Thompson (Feb 96)
| <...> Most companies simply don't celebrate most holidays; in the "trades" like carpentry, locksmithing, etc., you could expect at most four holidays off each year. They would probably be Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Fourth of July. Memorial Day and Labor Day, are not uncommon to have off, but the rest - forget it. <...> -- John (Apr 2002) |
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New Year's Day |
1st of January. |
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Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday |
3rd Monday in January. (Not observed by many companies). |
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Lincoln's Birthday |
Feb. 12 or closest Monday. (Not observed by many companies). |
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President's Day |
February. <...>president's day is really a merging of Lincoln's Birthday (12 Feb.) and Washington's (22 Feb). The Government needed to make room for a new holiday when we began celebrating Martin Luther King but didn't want to give workers another day off so the two president's birthdays were merged into "president's day"!<...> -- Glenn F. Roberts (Feb 96) |
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Good Friday |
Not an official public holiday, although observed by many companies. Easter Monday is not observed. <...>Most companies and schools don't observe Good Friday. It's part of our "separation of church and state" policy. <...> -- Cathleen Foster (Feb 96) <...> Alas, another American who does not know their own Constitution. That particular amendment can be nearly exactly quoted as (this may be of interest to you, since Australia uses the same Bill of Rights): "Congress shall pass no law regarding the establishment of religion". This is the most misunderstood (and media/liberal abused) amendment. <...> It definitely does not have anything to do with separation of Church and State, though, otherwise the goverment wouldn't recognize Christmas as a holiday, or possibly even Thanksgiving (those "Thanks" were and are supposed to be to God)<...> -- John (Apr 2002) <...>In my experience this has not been the case. Most school districts, as well as universities, observe Good Friday and sometimes even Holy Thursday. Also, most state employees I know have off for Good Friday.<...> -- Jocelyn Pagan (Sept 2005) |
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Memorial Day |
Last Monday in May |
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Independence Day |
4th of July. Big day for fireworks. |
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Labor Day |
First Monday in September. Big day for BBQs. |
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Columbus Day |
Second Monday in October. (Not observed by many companies). |
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Veteran's Day |
Nov. 11 or closest Monday. (Not observed by many companies). |
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Thanksgiving Day |
Fourth Thursday in November. A day that is well respected. Somehow this day has thus far escaped commercialism. Because this day always falls on a Thursday many companies close for the Friday too. <...>I disagree: Most companies do *not* give Friday after Thanksgiving off.<...> -- Kovacs, Andrea (Sep 2000). |
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Christmas Day |
25th of December. Boxing Day is not observed. |
There is a definite technology lag between the USA and Australia. Most things make it big in the US long before they hit the Australian shores. For example in 1996:
- the Internet was Big in the US. Every TV and radio station had their own web site. Companies would advertise their URLs via the mass media. The same thing happened in Australia in about 1998.
- Weather reports were often more sophisticated (if not more accurate). San Francisco had a computer simulated fly over of the bay area showing a 3D weather report. Again this didn't appear in Australia (or at least Brisbane) until about 1999.
- Any guesses on future technologies heading our way? Let me know what you think.
<...>My husband has just come to Oz from the States and big differences I've noticed of his expectations are:<...>6. He's starting to realise that if you talk casually about gun ownership in Australia people think you must be an international terrorist or a drug dealer.<...>
7. He's also just getting used to the fact that people walk around in Melbourne with no expectation of getting shot by anyone. Admittedly he spent most of his time in the States in New York, Chicago and Tennessee.<...> -- Alina Holgate (Feb 1996).
<...>Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds? Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo? If 7-11 is open 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors? -- Bo Berg ( Feb 1996)
If you have any comments/suggestions (including anything you think should appear on this page) please email me via donsi@uq.net.au (Don Simonetta).
Comments from Australian readers are in green whereas comments from American readers are in red. All other opinions expressed on this page are my own and accept no responsibility for any interpretations or uses made of these opinions.
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