With gas prices rising to unprecedented levels the word “Staycation” is popping up like mushrooms on horse poo all over the news. Who originally spawned this annoying hybrid pig-dog of a word. Where did it first appear?
The first entry for “staycation” in the Urban Dictionary is from August of '06. We know it’s been around for at least/nearly two years. With gas prices higher than they were in '06, my guess is the news media has latched on to it, and is using it as a way to appear current.
I’m wondering if any of the dopers with media centric professional search engines would be able to pinpoint the first instance of it being used journalistically.
Google News (not professional, but has access to a lot of archives) turns up a result from August 2005.
I think “Holistay” is a much better portmanteau. While your at it, you can turn your house into a “Hometel”.
I don’t understand why they don’t use “holistay”. It’s much better.
The preference of ‘staycation’ over ‘holistay’ would tend to suggest an American origin for the term.
Naturally. Otherwise, we’d have to stay put on a holiday, such as July 4, but then we’d be wondering what do do on our vacation.
Obligatory John Stewart/John Hodgman staycation & holistay linky
It is possible that staycation originated in Canada on “Corner Gas” - Brent had a staycation in 2004.
New Orleans city government has been promoting the “Staycation” lately with the high gas prices. I thought it was ridiculous. I take a vacation once or twice a year, even if just for a weekend, to get the hell away from this place (‘this place’ could refer to any place that has become stagnant…I’m not being critical of New Orleans specifically).
My family had our own term though…“Hurrication” [TM].
My ex-wife really went into a panic every time a hurricane came into the Gulf. We left early for Ivan in '04 and spent a few days in Memphis. No damage. We stayed for Cindy, which was a borderline Tropical Storm/Cat. 1 Hurricane and was a direct hit. The damage was minimal, but it was pretty scary. We went to Chatanooga for Dennis in '05, which missed us completely. Our final Hurrication was in Valdosta, GA for about 3 weeks, for Katrina, and it’s a good thing we left, since all of the trees around my house snapped like matchsticks and took out part of our roof. We didn’t flood, but three weeks without power would’ve been pretty unpleasant.
I suggest that, should the person who first used it journalistically be found, they be shot.
wasn’t that in Season 3 - 2006?
Yup, you’re right - Season 3, Episode 5. The season did start in 2005 I believe, though, and continued in 2006. Other online sources accredit Brent Butt and Corner Gas with coining the term, too, like this article .
For what it’s worth, Wikipedia also accredits Brent Butt with inventing the term:
The term “Balconville” to describe going nowhere on vacation has been around for decades in Quebec, and probably predates the 1979 play.