# "Black Friday": How long has it been called that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518 "2002-11-29T18:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/1 "2002-11-29T18:39:46Z")
I just came across another reference to today being called “Black Friday”; so named because supposedly today is the day that the balance sheets of most retail stores move from the red and into the black. (Today is, of course, the day after Thanksgiving here in the US which is supposedly the busiest shopping day of the year ([though Snopes says it isn’t](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/shopping.htm)) which accounts for the sudden influx of sales.) I have heard this term used four or five times this week now from multiple sources, but I don’t ever remember hearing it before this. (I _have_ heard the part about the balance sheets before, just never a specific name attached to the day.) Is this a relatively new term, or has it been around for a while and I’ve just had too much tryptophan in my system this time of year to notice it before? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/2 "2002-11-29T18:45:13Z")
That name has also be used in reference to the stock market crash of 1929, although the actual crash took place on a tuesday (and that day has been called black tuesday), it started on the friday before (if memory servers) so that day is refered to as black friday. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/3 "2002-11-29T18:56:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Is this a relatively new term, or has it been around for a while and I’ve just had too much tryptophan in my system this time of year to notice it before? Maybe it’s been a regionalism for a while, but I’d never heard it used in this context before this year. It certainly is everywhere though. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/4 "2002-11-29T19:01:14Z")
The original Black Friday was September 24, 1869, when the stock market collapsed due to Jay Gould’s failed attempt to corner the gold market. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/5 "2002-11-29T19:27:56Z")
Gould-finger! He’s the man, The man who crashed the market, The stock market. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/6 "2002-11-29T19:34:47Z")
My usual etymological sources are coming up empty. A search of Google groups shows that the term in this sense is not exactly new, but I never heard of it before this year. [This post](http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22after+thanksgiving%22+%22black+friday%22&start=150&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&safe=off&scoring=d&selm=1993Nov29.165647.194341%40ns1.cc.lehigh.edu&rnum=154) mentioned it nine years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/7 "2002-11-29T21:38:38Z")
I hear it everywhere this year, but I learned it last year when I went into retail right before it. It was, at that point, more like professional jargon - something the salespeople said that the customers didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/8 "2002-11-29T22:01:02Z")
I stand corrected. According to PBS it did start with Jay Gould in 1869. You can find out more at: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e\_friday.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_friday.html) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/9 "2002-11-29T22:06:50Z")
I’ve heard “black friday” in reference to the day after Thanksgiving for a number of years. I thought this was in fairly common usage, but maybe it started in the northeast. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*The original Black Friday was September 24, 1869, when the stock market collapsed due to Jay Gould’s failed attempt to corner the gold market. \*\* That was the original use of _Black Friday_ to refer to a stock market crash, but I believe the first use of _Black Friday_ as a specific day refers to December 6, 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charles (aka the Young Pretender) landed in Derby in his attempt to win the throne from George II. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/10 "2002-11-30T00:04:53Z")
after i experienced the dreaded **Black Friday** , i’m NEVER going back to Rancho Cucamonga! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/11 "2002-11-30T02:30:09Z")
I hear people use this occasionally, but I think they’re just misusing the phrase. I’ve heard dubious etymological claims that its either because (a) it sucks to work on this day, or (b) because all the stores run ‘in the black’ on that day, due to selling so much merchandise. I don’t like this term, but then, I never worked retail. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/12 "2002-11-30T03:04:15Z")
Just another use of the term: The magnitude 9.2 earthquake earthquake that struck Alaska in March 1964 was called either the “Good Friday” or the “Black Friday” earthquake. [http://www.alaskayukon.com/community\_E/body.html](http://www.alaskayukon.com/community_E/body.html) ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/13 "2002-11-30T03:13:08Z")
What was in Rancho? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/14 "2002-11-30T16:05:37Z")
I read on another forum that it comes from BLACKIE THE CHEAP, a Wales chap. Of course, there are no websites with that info, so it’s probably crap. ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/15 "2002-11-30T17:42:13Z")
OCC: Having worked retail & escaped, I can tell you it pretty much means both. While I am sure the term was taken over by retailers from the stock market crash usage, I have nothing to back this thought up, nor any real idea when. Probably in the fifties, as the Christmas season became highly commercialized. ---
**Author:** ![Tammi\_Terrell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/16 "2002-11-30T21:55:09Z")
For what it’s worth, the earliest association I can find (in a database of news articles) between “Black Friday” and the day after Thanksgiving that also repeats the “black ink” theme comes from an answer given in, well, the “Answer Line” column of _The Evening News_ [Harrisburg, PA], 16 December 1986. > [@](#): > > _Q. Where did the term, “Black Friday,” come from? Why do they call it “Black Friday”?_ > > A. “Black Friday” is known in the retailing circuit as the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of shoppers crowd, push and stomp their way into the nation’s department stores on the prowl for Christmas gift bargains. The reason has nothing to do with the doom-and-gloom associated with the color black. The most-offered explanation is that it is the day when the ink on retailers’ ledgers change color from red to black. At least that’s what the Pennsylvania Retailers Association says, and it ought to know. It is not clear who coined the phrase and when. However, for the clerks who brave the abuse of sometimes nasty, rude and heartless consumers on that day, the phrase “Black Friday” takes on an entirely different significance. Little difficult to rely on the Pennsylvania Retailers Association as an etymological source, of course. Point is, the day after Thanksgiving has been known amongst retailers as “Black Friday” (in the sense of getting back into “black ink”) at least since the mid-'80s. Back issues of _The New York Times_ often provide clues as to the origin of phrases, at least of those used by Americans. In this case, however, searching a database of news pieces that go back to 1857 is not of much help: _The Times_ doesn’t address “Black Friday” in the context of a “back to black” day for retailers until 1995. Which leads me to believe that dubbing the Friday after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday” (in the sense of sales day that’s so successful that it puts a business back “in black”) is of relatively recent origin. I ought to point out, though, that in Northeastern cities such as Philadelphia and New York, the same day had been called “Black Friday” since at least the mid-'70s, but for a somewhat different reason. It appears that transit workers and other regulars who found themselves in the city on that Friday considered it “Black Friday” _because_ of the woes associated with huge traffic snarls and throngs of shoppers. An early sighting from _The New York Times_, > [@](#): > > PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 28 – Philadelpha police and bus drivers call it “Black Friday” – that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army-Navy [football] game. It is the busiest shopping and traffic day of the year in the Bicentennial City as the Christmas list is checked off and the Eastern college footfall season nears conclusion. [From Gordon S. White Jr.’s “Army vs. Navy: A Dimming of Splendor”; Nov 29, 1975; pg. 21.] Whether Northeastern retailers took “Black Friday,” an already-familiar epithet for the day, and put a positive spin on it by proclaiming it a day to bring businesses out of the red into the black remains to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/17 "2002-12-01T16:38:21Z")
Ah, thanks everyone, especially Tammi for the database search and Bibliophage for the Google link. So, it looks as if the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as “Black Friday” in the retail trade since at least the mid '80s but didn’t make the jump to the mainstream until the past few years. I certainly didn’t hear it until this year and it sounds as if at least a few others didn’t either. It also looks as if it may have originated in the northeast. Apparently it has just finally hit “critical mass” (or whatever you call it in the etymological field) and so suddenly seems to be everywhere. Thanks again everyone. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/18 "2002-12-01T16:40:38Z")
Oh, and welcome to the SDMB, Tammi. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-friday-how-long-has-it-been-called-that/139518/19 "2002-12-01T19:36:41Z")
Great work, **Tammi Terrell**! I think you’re going to be a good addition to the SDMB. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tammi Terrell \* > For what it’s worth, the earliest association I can find (in a database of news articles) between “Black Friday” and the day after Thanksgiving that also repeats the “black ink” theme comes from an answer given in, well, the “Answer Line” column of _The Evening News_ [Harrisburg, PA], 16 December 1986. I grew up in central PA, so that might explain why the term was familiar to me.