Name: Jobbymoon.

Age: The coinage is new, if the thing is not.

Appearance: To the untrained eye, a holiday.

Is it not a holiday? It’s like a holiday, but different.

What is it then? To be honest, it’s an allegedly emerging trend with an ill-advised name.

I was going to say: whatever it is, it sounds disgusting. Sounds disgusting – feels great!

Well, I remain unconvinced ... Actually, it just means taking a vacation after leaving a job, and before starting a new one, according to the New York Times.

Why would you call that a jobbymoon? Because it is a relaxing break on the cusp of a life-changing event, like a honeymoon. Or a babymoon.

Babymoon? What is a babymoon? It’s a a vacation you take before you become a parent.

I’m sorry, but isn’t this just people going away and giving it a weird name? Not at all. In a busy world where employees are so overworked they routinely fail to take the holiday time they are entitled to, a jobbymoon presents a unique opportunity to review achievements and reassess priorities.

That sounds like work to me. The jobbymoon is not to be confused with the bizcation, where one mixes business and pleasure in a way that is potentially not relaxing at all.

So it’s more about being unemployed somewhere else. The downtime is important, but you have got to set goals or it is not a proper jobbymoon. One jobbymooner, who was interviewed, said she focused on four objectives: “Chill out, get rid of my eye twitch, eat as much local cuisine as possible and define what I want next in life.”

What did she want next in life? To be the director of experience at a toothbrush startup.

I really don’t know what that means, but I’ve got a potential sacking on my horizon. Where should I go? It doesn’t matter where you go, or how long you go for, as long as you’re marking the point between leaving one path and starting down another.

If I only do a long weekend, can I call it a half-moon? You certainly may.

If I also use the time to indulge in my passion in trainspotting, can I call it a hobbymoon? That’s the spirit. Make up any stupid name you want. There’s no governing body.

Do say: “I went to Bali for a fortnight, and I realised that my only goals in life were a load of big jobs.”

Don’t say: “When I first came back from jobbymooning I had decided to retrain as a lion tamer, but then I got the credit card bill from my trip and now I will literally work for food.”