Summertime at last.
Time for a holiday, time for a vacation. Time for a last discussion of "what's the difference between these two words" before I clear out for a few weeks. So, let's get into it.
Although both words originated around the same time, they began with different ideas. Holiday evolved from holy day and originally meant a day decreed by the church to be special. And far from being leisurely days with nothing to do, too often (depending on the century and the church), holy days meant days filled with obligations and duties.
Vacation, by contrast, originated from Latin and meant freedom from obligations and duties. In other words, a vacation was not limited to a specific day, but rather specified a time when there was no work to be done, either for wage or duty.
Over time, however, the two words gradually began to fill the same role. From Etymonline:
As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a holiday, it is attested from 1878.
and
Happy holidays is from mid-19c., in British English, with reference to summer vacation from school.
There are two things at work here: in England, as the middle class began to grow in rank and power, the idea of leaving one's home for some time away trickled down from the upper crust and became an attainable idea, helping to spread the idea of going on holiday. Meanwhile, in both England and America, as the school systems became more formalized and classes became bigger and more rigid, the curriculum had to be adjusted to allow for time off from studies, or, vacation.
As both words grew to mean "time off" they became more and more interchangeable. Indeed, by the time the early 80s rolled around, two very different musical acts would top the charts with songs about vacation and holiday.
The Go-Gos "Vacation" hit No. 8 in 1982 with a video in heavy rotation on the still-nascent MTV featuring all five ladies water-skiiing in formation during their erstwhile vacation. Lyrically, the song suggests an escape from a failed relationship, culminating in the chorus:
Vacation, all I ever wanted
Vacation, had to get away
Vacation, meant to be spent alone
Meanwhile, a young singer named Madonna was putting the final touches on her debut album which would release the following year, in September of 1983. Included amongst the tracks sat a future pop-classic that told an altogether different story:
If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate (Come on, let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (Holiday)
It would be
It would be so nice
Aside from the rather interesting bit about whether its better to spend a holiday alone or with others, I think it's fairly clear that by the time these songs were written, holiday and vacation existed as near perfect synonyms. I mean, ignore the mismatched syllable count and butchered rhyme schemes and you could replace either word with the other in either song.
None of which explains why the phrase "holiday vacation" seems to be making a comeback. Looking at both the historical corpora and Google's Ngram viewer, this seemingly redundant phrase was used most often in conjunction with time off from school, mainly for Christmas or other religious times. Based on the same data, it is indeed making a comeback with an added nuance that indicates that one is traveling some distance for said vacation. Whether this is a persistent trend, I leave to someone with more time and energy to research.
Thanks for reading!
Before You Go
For the next few weeks, you'll be seeing something different in your inbox. Instead of Learned, you'll be receiving a new letter called Also. Also is a chance for me to get back to the roots of Learned and write about the other big subjects in my life - living abroad, teaching, language learning, music, and lots of other things. This is a bit of an experiment for me and one that I welcome your feedback on. If you love Also, or hate it, or wish I'd talk more or less about different topics, feel free to let me know. In the meantime, have a great summer and I'll see you in September.
What We’re Reading
All links to books discussed here go to A Very Learned Bookstore on Bookshop.org, meaning I'll get a small commission on any books purchased through these links.
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Given the bright, pop-centric songs they became known for, people are often surprised to find out that the Go-Gos started as a punk band, hanging about the L.A. scene with members of the Runaways and the Germs before being discovered and coached towards the MTV-friendly sound that would define them.
This book is not about the Go-Gos, though. This book is about punk, mostly in New York, mostly in the 70s, recounted by the people who were there. It’s a warts-and-all look at the music that has come to define my entire generation and that has served as a keystone for all the major moments of my life. Highly recommended for the music historian in your life.
Excited for Also, while you are on Holiday :-)
A revelation...that the Go-Gos sang about solo vacation. No wonder I liked that song! シ