%%- not long ago people still made a big difference between investment and trading or speculation. buy and hold was genuine investment. the rest wasn't.
more people have turned shorter-term oriented nowadays. a year or two is probably considered long-term, and 6 months intermediate.
short-term would mean a couple of months or a few weeks. some short-term traders hold a position for a few days at most. some don't hold anything overnight and thus the term "day-trade". still shorter-term traders trade in time frames of hours, minutes and even seconds.
length of holding period isn't the point. long-term survival and making profit is. use whatever time frame suits your style, system and personality.
%%- Wolfwitz, a war-monger/neocon, main architect of Iraq war, current World Bank President, is now involved in a sex and money scandal.