Black Friday

Today is known as Black Friday in the US, a very busy shopping day traditionally marking the start of the Christmas shopping season. I heard someone on the radio this morning saying that Black Friday is so called because this is the day that shops' bank accounts go from being in the red to being in the black. So, it is a positive epithet.

 

This explanation is also given in the OED, but the Dictionary also tells us that it was Philadelphia police officers who first referred to the day as Black Friday. They did so because of the huge numbers of shoppers and huge amount of traffic they were faced with on this day, giving them lots of headaches (they referred to Black Saturday, too). The OED's first citation for this sense is from a 1961 journal.

 

Black Friday has referred to other days and events in the past. The earliest usage of the term was in the early 17th century and was school slang for an exam day. Friday 6th December 1745 was referred to as Black Friday, too. This was the date on which the landing of the Young Pretender was announced in London (the Young Pretender is also known as the romantic figure of Bonnie Prince Charlie, a grandson of the Stuart king James II, who pretended to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland as, indeed, his father, the Old Pretender, had done before him).

 

On Friday 11 May, 1866, there was commercial panic in the City of London after the failure of the London bank Overend, Gurney & Co (very coincidentally, my last post before this one was on the Gurney bank - spooky! I only heard the name for the first time yesterday and have now come across it again barely 12 hours later). This date, too, has been described in the press up to the present day as Black Friday. The USA had their own Black Friday a few years later -- on Friday 24 September 1869; panic on Wall Street was precipitated by flooding the market with government gold.

 

Belated Thanksgiving and holiday greetings to readers in the US.

Comments

[John]

Thanks for the holiday wishes, Susan.

Black Friday is insane around stores and shopping malls. Store employees hate it; people have died in crushes when the doors open; today 15 people were pepper sprayed by someone trying to get ahead in a queue. Many stores open at midnight or very early in the morning, usually offering deep discounts on some big-ticket items.

Since it it always the day after Thanksgiving, many people have the day off as a holiday or take leave. Given that, they head for the malls. Two of my kids and their spouses came for the weekend; one is at the mall now, having gone to Best Buy at 2:00 AM.

Even the US home page of the Barclay's Premier League has a Black Friday related banner.

[Jemmy Hope]

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) seem to have the wrong idea -

"When Black Friday comes
I'll stand by the door
And watch the grey men when they
Dive from the thirteenth floor."

(Something like that)

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks, both of you, for your comments. John, sounds horrendous! I think if I was at the mall, I'd copy the grey men in the Steely Dan song Jemmy reminded us of.

[John]

Personally, I totally avoid malls between now and Christmas, especially today and this weekend. In my best slang-laden poor English "no way, no how....ain't gonna happen!"

Who was it that said "Abandon hope all ye who enter here"? Dante?

[John]

Susan,

Are you familiar with the term "Cyber Monday" which refers to tomorrow, supposedly the heaviest on-line shopping day here? Recently the term "Cyber Week" has begun to come into use also.

[Virtual Linguist]

Hello John, and thanks. I've just googled Cyber Monday and although it's referenced in UK papers, it is a term that tends to refer to the US - and specifically to tomorrow, as you say. I remember reading here in the UK about Mega Monday, which was last Monday. That was supposed to be the busiest online shopping day. The busiest online shopping day is usually in December, but because we had very bad weather last December, which caused delays in deliveries, leading to disappointment at Christmas for many, people are shopping earlier this year -- allegedly. I must admit, I haven't even started thinking about Christmas shopping. I shall shop in my local high street, even though I will probably pay over the odds. I went to Waitrose supermarket for my normal weekly shop yesterday and it was manic!