Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Cherrie]

Dear All,
Could you please tell me how to differentiate �holiday�, �vacation� and �break.�

As I know,
*holiday: it refers to a specific/special date, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
*vacation: it means that you can take many days off, such as summer vacation.
*break: I only know �spring break, but I don�t know how to explain it.

Help me, please!!! Thank you sooooooo much

[pugachevV]

In UK, "I'm going on my holidays tomorrow" means I do not have to work for the next week or two.
In USA and Canada they would say "I'm going on vacation", to mean the same thing.
In USA and Canada and UK (and probably in Australia) they use holiday to describe a day that would be usually a work, or school day, but is recognized as a day off by the government and most employers. Good Friday, Christmas Day New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Armistice Day (UK) and so on.
If you have to work on a public holiday you usually get overtime.
In UK this type of day off is also referred to as a "Bank Holiday".
A break seems to be a largely North American expression to mean a short break in the school term, such as Spring, as you mention, and often Easter.