Examples:
- Das war der Tag, wo wir in den Urlaub gefahren sind
- Die Zeit, wo wir froh waren
Is this temporal usage of "wo" correct?
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Is this temporal usage of "wo" correct?
In your examples, wo stands for als. It does indeed have a temporal meaning and everyone uses it, although it is horrible grammar. Correct is:
- Das war der Tag, als wir in den Urlaub gefahren sind.
- Die Zeit, als wir froh waren.
You should avoid it in written language, but it is very common in spoken language. Many german teachers have tried to teach their pupils to not use this - in vain. Noone will suspect you if you use this in a conversation.
There is another usage of wo in spoken language, though, that you should avoid under all circumstances:
Das ist der, wo mir weh getan hat.
Here, wo replaces der or welcher and it's absolutely terrible, but often heard on schoolyards.
According to Duden, this is indeed a correct use of "wo".
zeitlich; zu welcher Zeit
Grammatik: relativisch
Beispiel: in dem Augenblick, zu dem Zeitpunkt, wo er hier ankam
However, this sounds wrong and slang-like to me; it may be a recent development, or a regional thing. I'd recommend the phrasings from marstato's answer.
No. wo denotes a place but never time. Correct german is: