The Myth of Black Friday

Today is known as "Black Friday" by U.S. retailers, who named it that, allegedly, because the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year and the point at which most retail businesses begin making a profit (i.e., they're "in the black" for the year).

Would that it were true.

Black Friday is a major shopping event to be sure, with so many retailers launching holiday promotions and offering jaw-dropping mark-downs on that day, but in terms of real spending the last Saturday before Christmas always outshines the last Friday in November.

It turns out that the term originated back in the 1960s with members of the Philadelphia Police Department, who dubbed the day "Black Friday" because of all the traffic problems caused by bargain hunters swarming downtown stores. It didn't assume its positive (and mythical) connotation until a decade or so later when it was co-opted by the retail industry and the national media, both of which persist in referring to Black Friday as a "tradition."

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