Und was unterscheidet breaks und holidays voneinander (z.B. in deiner Quelle: "The calendar of holidays, breaks, and ..")?

In American English, a holiday is a Feiertag (Labor day, Veterans day, etc.)

Ich sehe es jetzt: Holidays für Ferien ist chiefly (Brit.)

supported, but you need an (Am.) also for your second suggestion.

I just now saw this languishing far beneath the cranesbills and would like to support it, because it's absolutely correct. #3 states the difference very well.

It seems worth spending time on, even though, or precisely because, it also opens up an enormous, seething can of worms.

There are already a lot of entries with *ferien, translated variously as holiday, holidays, vacation, break, some marked BE or AE, many not.

Especially, many entries with 'vacation' or 'break' are marked AE (but not all), whereas many with 'holidays' are not marked BE (but not all).

I'm going to start a separate thread for the scores of existing entries that still need an AE or BE marking.

For this one, in addition to the AE entries with 'break,' I would like to call attention to all the existing entries with 'holiday,' most of which are totally missing a corresponding AE form with 'vacation.'

I'm not saying that every single one needs to be repeated -- a kite-flying vacation is probably not at the top of the priority list.

But if LEO cares aboutr being consistent and equally welcoming to AE and BE users, then these are the entries that could use a 'vacation' form to match the existing 'holiday(s)' form.

Add with [Amer.] marking:

vacation - der Erholungsaufenthalt
vacation - der Erholungsurlaub
farm vacations - der Agrotourismus
paid vacation days - bezahlter Urlaub
beach vacation - die Badeferien
annual vacation - der Jahresurlaub
kite-flying vacation - Ferien zum Drachenfliegen
vacation on a farm - Urlaub auf dem Bauernhof
fishing vacation - der Angelurlaub
hiking vacation - die Bergwanderferien
hiking vacation - die Wanderferien
hiking vacation - der Wanderurlaub
hunting vacation - die Jagdferien
factory workers’ vacation - der Betriebsurlaub
horseback-riding vacation - die Reitferien
horseback-riding vacation - der Reiturlaub
sailing vacation - die Segelferien
tennis vacation - die Tennisferien
tennis vacation - der Tennisurlaub
winter vacation - der Winterurlaub
right to vacation days - der Urlaubsanspruch
right to vacation days - die Urlaubsberechtigung
vacation guest - der Feriengast
vacation brochure - der Reiseprospekt
vacation destination - das Reiseziel
vacation replacement - die Urlaubsvertretung
vacation season - die Urlaubssaison
vacation season - die Urlaubszeit
vacation address - die Reiseanschrift
vacation course - der Ferienkurs
vacation course - die Ferienschule
vacation destination - das Reiseland
vacation destination - das Urlaubsziel
vacation home - das Ferienhaus
vacation home - das Ferienheim
vacation house - das Ferienhaus
vacation job - der Ferienjob
vacation package / all-inclusive package - das Pauschalangebot
vacation pay - das Urlaubsgeld
vacation pay - der Urlaubslohn
vacation bonus - die Urlaubszulage
vacation plans pl. - die Urlaubspläne
semester on leave - das Urlaubssemester
vacationer - der Feriengast
vacationer - der Urlauber
half day off - halber Feiertag
spa vacation(s) - Ferien in Heilbädern
language vacation(s) - die Sprachferien
I'm filling in while Mrs. Schumm is on vacation. - Ich mache Urlaubsvertretung für Frau Schumm


Again, Frau Schumm per se is probably not that important. But if she exists in BE, then she could also exist in AE.

I just thought that if I went ahead and made a list, perhaps it would save someone else from having to take the time to do that.

definitely supported.

IMO the use of "break" as a long vacational period in a school/university context (Ferien) is not corroborated by the sources given

Also from merriam webster

[C]A break is also a time away from work or school, or a vacation: I went skiing in the mountains during spring break (= period in early spring when school classes temporarily stop).

Ich bin sehr dafür, daß bei LEO das konstruktive Mißtrauensvotum obligatorisch wird.

I'd have thought that the American spring break is notorious.... something most holidaymakers try to avoid....

I don't see any problem with break = Ferien, either. Aside from the (at times but not always notorious) spring break, there's also the summer break and the winter break (and possibly others that I'm not aware of right now). The "break" simply denotes inactivity for a period of time, which could be from a couple of days to several weeks, as during the summer. Although "break" is often used synonymously with "vacation," I'd say that a vacation generally implies the idea of going away on a vacation, i.e. Urlaub in German, whereas a "break" simply implies not going to school (in this context).

then more like Ferien, as dude says. Urlaub is different.

break

#16: Even more specifically, Schulferien. Is it also used for a single holiday like Thanksgiving Day?

# 3 suggests a Feiertag is a holiday.

Usually, single holidays are combined with weekends (Memorial Day or Labor Day), while Thanksgiving usually means the entire week off. But generally speaking, yes, you can say you're on a (very) short break, such as Martin Luther King Day, or July 4th, e.g.

Hat jemand schon Auszeit erwähnt? oder ist das komplett daneben?

RE #17 and #19: I never had a full week off of school for Thanksgiving break, but school districts and colleges/universities vary greatly in their vacation/break schedules. That said, since US Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday, it's quite common that the following Friday is a day off as well -- thus, at least at my university, we had "Thanksgiving break" (which I usually spent at home with my family, but profs. were notorious for giving long assignments for us to do over the break -- after I had recovered from Thursday's turkey coma, I spent a couple days in the local college library more than once during the break.)

going off topic a bit, but what would you say for Brückentag? Holiday or (short break) in AE?

@22, 23: Genau. Der Brückentag ist nicht automatisch arbeitsfrei, dafür muss ich als Arbeitnehmerin einen Urlaubstag nehmen. Der Vorteil ist allerdings, dass ich, wenn z.B. ein Feiertag auf einen Donnerstag fällt, mir nur den einen Brückentag freinehmen (Freitag) muss, um auf vier aufeinander folgende freie Tage zu kommen. Geht natürlich auch nur, weil ich am Wochenende grundsätzlich frei habe, das gilt ja auch nicht für alle Arbeitnehmer.

There are archive threads on Brückentag, but there's not an actual equivalent in English, only things like 'long weekend' -- which for us in the US is usually a weekend plus a Monday holiday, Thanksgiving being the only 4-day weekend.

It might be better to take the more general discussion back to one of those threads and see if we can wrap this up by getting

break [Amer.] [educ.] = Ferien (Pl.)

into the dictionary, along with the other AE/BE distinctions needed. It's a good suggestion, even if it does remind us of quite a few long-overlooked worms.

It has been a year and still no break - Ferien entry in the dictionary.

What is the risk here that the foregoing meaning of "break" might be confused with the more regular (i.e., frequent) breaks workers and students (and everyone else) take every day?

They have to be on vacation (Amer.) listed as in den Ferien sein

HappyWarrior, # 27

I don't believe I know anyone who would likely call the Easter or spring break "the spring vacation," but I know a lot of people who call it "summer vacation" (from school).

Re #27 - one can be on break for a lot longer than 10 minutes; days, weeks, months even. For example:

I was trying to answer your question in #27: What's the risk ...?

I'm fully aware of that, jamqueen (or should I call you Queen Obvious)? I was trying to explain that difference to HappyWarrior who seems to think there's no risk of confusion. But whatever ...

Re #35.

Funny, and I thought you were better able to understand German - well, actually no, I didn't.

Why do I even bother? You're right (as usual), I'm wrong - end of debate.

I don't know why you were bothering with what I said in this thread. You were attacking me over non-issues--for things I did not say.