[1966] "Black Friday" (day after Thanksgiving)

[James Smith]

Rather than a nail in the coffin, I read the attitude of the police towards Black Friday as the exception that proves the rule.

James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Wed, 4/23/08, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <taylor-blake at NC.RR.COM> wrote:

> From: Bonnie Taylor-Blake <taylor-blake at NC.RR.COM>
> Subject: [1966] "Black Friday" (day after Thanksgiving)
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 5:14 PM
> Because it's never too early to be thinking about
> Thanksgiving and Black
> Friday, I submit what follows as a nail in the coffin of
> that "from red ink
> to black ink" explanation for how this particular
> Friday got its name.
>
> By the way, Google Books provided a not-very-helpful
> snippet view of the
> following advertisement, which appeared in the January 1966
> issue (Volume
> 79, No. 4, p. 239) of *The American Philatelist*.  Thanks
> go to Ellen
> Peachey of the American Philatelic Research Library
> (Bellefonte,
> Pennsylvania); she came to the rescue, locating the text in
> question and
> sending the appropriate PDF to me, all with good humor.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> [This advertisement is in the form of a column written by
> Martin L.
> Apfelbaum, Executive Vice President of Earl P.L. Apfelbaum,
> Inc., of
> Philadelphia.  PDF available upon request.]
>
>
> *Philadelphia's "Black Friday"*
>
> JANUARY 1966 -- "Black Friday" is the name which
> the Philadelphia Police
> Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving
> Day.  It is not a
> term of endearment to them.  "Black Friday"
> officially opens the Christmas
> shopping season in center city, and it usually brings
> massive traffic jams
> and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are
> mobbed from opening to
> closing.
>
> This year proved to be no exception -- especially at
> Apfelbaum's.  The pace
> was hectic and the traffic was heavy.  Here's a capsule
> report of how
> Apfelbaum's weathered "Black Friday."
>
> [...]
>
> All in all, "Black Friday" certainly lived-up to
> its reputation.  In fact it
> lasted for two days, with more of the same traffic and
> congestion the
> Saturday which followed.
>
> Is this activity unusual?  A little.  But just stop in on
> any day of the
> week and you will see more action at Apfelbaum's than
> at any stamp shop in
> the world.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org


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