On holiday in Australia, and I rented a Yaris

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

BTW, outside of the US, people seem to call vacations "holidays". So what is a holiday called (such as Christmas, ect.).

The word "holiday" is derived from "Holy Day" which is one designated day reserved for celebration or remembrance of something.

"Vacations" are periods of time we take off from work or school for rest, leasure, fun, ect.

They are two totally different things.

Sorry for the off topic observation. But can someone ouside of the USA explain this?

I remember my Dad was once hassled at the Canada-US border for saying he and my Mom were going into the US for a "holiday" when it was just (what you would call) a "vacation". The border guy said that there were no holidays that he was aware of, and my Dad had to explain how we use the word. I consider any time I take off work to be a "holiday".