Black or Colourful Friday?
Most of the people think that the word “black” in front of a day of the week doesn’t mean anything good. In fact, if we have a look at history, Black Monday was the sell-off the day before the stock market crash of 1929, Black Tuesday, as well as the day of an even bigger crash in 1987. Black Wednesday was used to refer to a day of widespread air traffic snarls in 1954, as well as the day the British government was forced to withdraw a battered pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. Black Thursday has largely been used to describe days of devastating fires, bombings and athletic defeats, among other unpleasantness.
So, how is it the Black Friday became a joyous commercial event, which involves people all over the world in the day after Thanksgiving?
Actually, it wasn’t always this way. The earliest known use of the term “Black Friday” dates back to 1951. It referred to the practice of workers calling in sick on the day after Thanksgiving, to get a four-day weekend. The term became popular starting from 1960s together with the increase of this custom. This common tendency became even more popular thanks to Joseph P. Barret who used this term in his articles in relation to the Americans’ habit to go shopping during the last weekend of November.
Why is it called “black”?
The adjective “black” hasn’t got a positive history. Originally the term “Black Friday” came out of the fact that the police of the old Philadelphia Police Department’s called the day after Thanksgiving with this name because they had to deal with bad traffic and other problems connected to the throngs of shoppers heading for the stores. Then local retailers and advertisers tried to replace the expression “Black Friday” with “Big Friday”, less negative. This choice was unsuccessful, so they found a new way of improve the name: the day “Black Friday” is so called because of the black ink used from the companies to write profits.
What is the “Black Friday”?
As I said before, this trend comes from the Americans and it developed in the 1960s with the economic boom. It has become even more famous until it is considered a festivity in its own right. But let see what does it consist of. Every November, most of people all over the world are involved in a commercial event called Black Friday. During the week which follows the last Friday of November, all the stores, from the biggest to the smallest, increase their productions giving to people the chance to buy goods at special prices. So people can buy foodstuffs, clothes, Christmas presents and many other things, saving a lot of money. For this reason, in these days, most of the people go shopping, looting the stores, while the shopkeepers have to work extra time to cope all the sales.
So, Black Friday or Colourful Weekend, good shopping to you all!
Arianna Torre 3CBS
