I guess it's now official

[jducoeur]

The term "Black Friday" has been in common use for at least 20 years now, as the common slang for the day after Thanksgiving, when stores get deluged by shoppers. It's the day every store prays for and dreads: when things get chaotic and uncontrollable, but the sales get really great.

So I'm fascinated that this year, for the first time that I recall, the term seems to have become overt and universal. The email flyers we're getting have pretty consistently stopped saying "Day After Thanksgiving", and simply have "Black Friday" in their subject lines, as if that were a national holiday unto itself. I'm not sure whether that reflects wishful thinking or gallows humor...

Comments

Marketers are dumb.

[dervishspin.livejournal.com]

Dumb, I say, because actually having the store call it "Black Friday" to it's customers does not encourage those customers to come into that store on that day.

[doubleplus.livejournal.com]

I heard on the radio yesterday that it's called "Black Friday" because it's they day when many retail stores go into the black for the year. I don't know if that's true, but I'd never heard it before. I guess I'd always assumed it was coined by the staff to describe how horrible it was to deal with the crowds.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Might be useful in thinking about the term: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/thanksgiving/shopping.asp

I'm definitely the sort of person who avoids malls when possible in the month before Christmas. I'd be curious to hear a real poll of those who do, and whether they actually like the experience or not.

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

"I'm definitely the sort of person who avoids malls when possible in the month before Christmas. I'd be curious to hear a real poll of those who do, and whether they actually like the experience or not."

I tend to spell the word "maul" rather than "mall". As such, I avoid them and the streets around them at all costs. Fun, living in Framingham...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

You need a flying car!

[jducoeur]

Well, here's a question that's closely related: do you enjoy shopping as recreation? I suspect that how people feel about Black Friday correlates very closely with that.

I'm middle of the scale: I enjoy shopping, especially in stores that are new to me, but I'm not devoted to it. Probably due to that, Black Friday neither excites nor repels me particularly. (Although the parking can be bad enough to keep me away, and there are limits to how much bad Christmas music I can listen to, so particular mall experiences can be unpleasant for me...)

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

(Sorry late reply; was out of town.)

Good point. I don't enjoy shopping as recreation unless it's in pursuit of one of my hobbies. Also, I don't like crowds much.

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

I always have to stop and think whenever I hear that term. I know it's supposed to be about going in the black, but it always makes me think funereal thoughts.

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Not quite apropos, but ambug666's LARP Holiday Season (now in the Gamebank (http://larpaweb.net/gamebank-mainmenu-31/cat_view/27-gamebank/31-2008-larpa-contest-entries)) has a character named "Harried Clerk", the incarnation of Black Friday. (citabria played her with much hilarity at Mid-Atlantic '2008.)