Staycations

[Lesley]

An interesting phone in on BBC Radio 2 (well I enjoy Jeremey Vine anyway)  It would seem Staycation means you stay at home in your own home and garden area.  As opposed to the new Americanism via Media outlets which says this means gander around your own country.  It would seem Staycation means stay home and not meaning have a holiday in the UK whilst 50 years ago we all did go on holiday in the UK we never had a staycation, I really can't remember my father saying this Summer we are haiving a staycation he said OK for our Summer Holiday we are going to.......we are going on holiday, be it Devon, Cornwall, the Lake District up to Scotland we said we were going on holiday... Just interested in the power of Social Media and how they have changed our own British language into more Americaisms

[Jimbo]

Most people understand it to mean holidaying the UK.

[Karen]

To us it means holidaying somewhere in this country. As a child, we used to have caravan holidays in  Norfolk,  I loved it. We went to Butlins at Skegness, a couple of times. I didn't go abroad until I was 26. We didn't call them staycations then, they were holidays.

[Lesley]

But my dad never said we were having a Staycation we just went on holiday in the UK hence my post when did this tag become the norm? When you Google it, it suggests you stay home and have days out, however isn't Google American?  I just never remember my daddy saying well this Summer we are having a staycation in Devon, Cornwall, Lake District etc we just went on holiday......

[Karen]

I think it came about when people started to holiday  abroad more for their holidays and it was a staycation when they holidayed in their own countries. As I said, we called them holidays, not staycations..

[Jimbo]

A staycation is a holiday that you spend in your own home or your own country, relaxing and enjoying leisure activities there.  Collins Dictionary

It's only recently been used in the UK as we were encouraged to holiday on home territory rather than going abroad. It is first, according to Wikipedia, recorded in the USA in 2003, and was popularised there in 2008 when petrol prices went steeply up as a result of the world financial crisis.

So yes, it is an American import, like the obnoxious "Prom," which is causing a lot of unnecessary financial pressure on parents.

I think it's an ugly word. 

[BAJ]

I think it’s only relatively recently that it has become common use, pre Covid but is certainly a more popular word since Covid 

[gillie]

Come to think of it, I have only really become aware of it post Covid. Funnily enough I have a recurring argument about whether you can be on holiday when staying at home! I say of course you can, others insist you have to go away, not necessarily abroad, just not in your own house!