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Black Friday??
The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. |
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#2
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Black Friday??
On 3/13/2020 3:50 PM, John B. wrote:
The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. "Black Friday" is an informal name (i.e. not official, but widely used) for the day after Thanksgiving Day [1] in the US. Much of the US population has a paid holiday that day, if they have paid holidays at all. That and the proximity to Christmas make it a major day for retail sales in the US; the name reportedly refers to the day retailers first "make it into the black," i.e. profitability, for the year, whether or not this actually occurs. It is heavily hyped by retailers; loss-leader specials are advertised heavily. Shopping frenzies are a news staple that day. [1]Which /is/ a legal holiday in the US, the fourth Thursday in November. Mark J. |
#3
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Black Friday??
On Sat, 14 Mar 2020 05:50:59 +0700, John B
wrote: The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? Seriously? "Black Friday" is perhaps the single most important day in retail businesses in the US and is reported not only in US media but internationally. Where the heck do you live that you don't hear about this? Cyber Monday, No Buy November, etc., are imitators and detractors. When I was a kid (in the olden days, grumble grumble) in Chicago the Friday after Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas shopping season. The major department stores downtown revealed their holiday display windows with pomp and circumstance, live TV coverage, speeches by the mayor, yadda yadda yadda. People who weren't downtown to shop watched it on TV. The experience was not unlike the various retail scenes in the original "Miracle on 34th Street" when I was a kid. Maybe post-boomer kids had a different experience. Teenagers are much older now than when I was one. |
#4
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Black Friday??
On 3/13/2020 6:50 PM, John B. wrote:
The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? As others have answered, there is indeed such a thing - in spades. Black Friday is a monster shopping frenzy, one of the biggest events of the year in our possession worshiping culture. People camp out for hours hoping to be among the first 50 in Wal-Mart when the doors open. Because flat screen TV!!! It's gotten worse in recent years. Until lately, merchants had the decency to wait until midnight to open the doors. Now Black Friday starts about 5 PM on Thanksgiving, at least in some stores. So possessions are more important than football; and football has been more important than family for a long time here. Here's an interesting bit of related history: https://time.com/3603622/fdr-moved-thanksgiving/ Gotta keep the economy humming! FWIW, our Thanksgiving is four or five chunks of the extended family spending a couple days in what was once an old farmhouse. (It's now totally re-done, modernized and super-insulated. And there's a nice game room in the barn.) There's a big dinner, of course, and always a long walk on a gravel road. There are lots of games, and fun playing with kids. On Friday, the ladies browse little local antique stores. The guys go to a hot dog shop, then browse the really neat used tool store a few doors down. I bought a draw knife last year. One of the other guys bought his first micrometer. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#5
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Black Friday??
On 3/13/2020 5:50 PM, John B. wrote:
The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. It is real, an invention of the marketing and retail industries (see also Secretaries' Day, which I only know about because I am a corporate secretary, or the new Valentine's Day in Japan celebrated by women giving men chocolate). It's the Friday after Thanksgiving and precedes Cyber Monday, another recent invention. None of which has anything to do with the Christian Black Friday of course. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#6
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Black Friday??
On 3/13/2020 6:29 PM, Tim McNamara wrote:
On Sat, 14 Mar 2020 05:50:59 +0700, John B wrote: The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? Seriously? "Black Friday" is perhaps the single most important day in retail businesses in the US and is reported not only in US media but internationally. Where the heck do you live that you don't hear about this? Cyber Monday, No Buy November, etc., are imitators and detractors. When I was a kid (in the olden days, grumble grumble) in Chicago the Friday after Thanksgiving was the official start of the Christmas shopping season. The major department stores downtown revealed their holiday display windows with pomp and circumstance, live TV coverage, speeches by the mayor, yadda yadda yadda. People who weren't downtown to shop watched it on TV. The experience was not unlike the various retail scenes in the original "Miracle on 34th Street" when I was a kid. Maybe post-boomer kids had a different experience. Teenagers are much older now than when I was one. Our business has never enjoyed sales that day whatsoever. And I don't recall it as a child, only starting in the late seventies or so. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#7
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Black Friday??
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:16:52 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: On 3/13/2020 6:50 PM, John B. wrote: The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? As others have answered, there is indeed such a thing - in spades. Black Friday is a monster shopping frenzy, one of the biggest events of the year in our possession worshiping culture. People camp out for hours hoping to be among the first 50 in Wal-Mart when the doors open. Because flat screen TV!!! It's gotten worse in recent years. Until lately, merchants had the decency to wait until midnight to open the doors. Now Black Friday starts about 5 PM on Thanksgiving, at least in some stores. So possessions are more important than football; and football has been more important than family for a long time here. Here's an interesting bit of related history: https://time.com/3603622/fdr-moved-thanksgiving/ Gotta keep the economy humming! FWIW, our Thanksgiving is four or five chunks of the extended family spending a couple days in what was once an old farmhouse. (It's now totally re-done, modernized and super-insulated. And there's a nice game room in the barn.) There's a big dinner, of course, and always a long walk on a gravel road. There are lots of games, and fun playing with kids. On Friday, the ladies browse little local antique stores. The guys go to a hot dog shop, then browse the really neat used tool store a few doors down. I bought a draw knife last year. One of the other guys bought his first micrometer. I guess I wouldn't fit in if I went back. Thanksgiving as I remember it was a day for the entire tribe to get together. The women would do the cooking, captained by Grandma, and the menfolk would sit in the front room and discuss "things". About one o'clock dinner would be served and then the ladies would do the washing up, spurred on by Grandma saying, "No,no, just leave it. I'll do it tomorrow", and the menfolk would sit about in the living room burping and belching until about 5:00 when everyone would leave for home, taking heaps of, "just take a little of this, it'll only spoil if you leave it". Other than giving the ladies a chance to exhibit their cooking skills it got the whole tribe together where they could bring all the kinfolk up to date on the latest. "George lost his job, but it looks like he'll get another one at the Post Office"; "Judith thought that she was pregnant, at the age of 45, but (Thank God) it was just a tumor, and they already operated"; .... :-) -- cheers, John B. |
#8
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Black Friday??
On Friday, 13 March 2020 18:51:07 UTC-4, John B. wrote:
The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. Here in Canada, especially in Ontario, Black Friday has a far different meaning than it does in the USA. Friday, February 20, 1959 is the date that the then Conservative government cancelled the Avro Arrow CF-105 and the Orenda Iroquois jet engine programs. That date is know as Black Friday and, to quote Roosevelt, is a day that shall live in infamy! Cheers |
#9
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Black Friday??
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:25:24 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot
wrote: On Friday, 13 March 2020 18:51:07 UTC-4, John B. wrote: The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. Here in Canada, especially in Ontario, Black Friday has a far different meaning than it does in the USA. Friday, February 20, 1959 is the date that the then Conservative government cancelled the Avro Arrow CF-105 and the Orenda Iroquois jet engine programs. That date is know as Black Friday and, to quote Roosevelt, is a day that shall live in infamy! Cheers And nearly 30,000 employees were thrown out of work :-( -- cheers, John B. |
#10
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Black Friday??
On Friday, 13 March 2020 23:26:56 UTC-4, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:25:24 -0700 (PDT), Sir Ridesalot wrote: On Friday, 13 March 2020 18:51:07 UTC-4, John B. wrote: The local news, today, had an article about "Black Friday". In the context here it "celebrated" a protest against the government (of a hundred people)but in the body of the article it referred to a holiday in the U.S. which is celebrated by a frenzy of shopping as it is the first shopping day before Christmas. Is there such a thing? Or is this just another example of a reporter trying to bolster her story? -- cheers, John B. Here in Canada, especially in Ontario, Black Friday has a far different meaning than it does in the USA. Friday, February 20, 1959 is the date that the then Conservative government cancelled the Avro Arrow CF-105 and the Orenda Iroquois jet engine programs. That date is know as Black Friday and, to quote Roosevelt, is a day that shall live in infamy! Cheers And nearly 30,000 employees were thrown out of work :-( -- cheers, John B. A lot of those were very highly skilled engineers and some went to Britain and others went to work for NASA and/or the Skunk Works in the USA amongst other airplane makers. Many Canadian families still won't vote Conservative because of that Black Friday. Cheers |
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