Original photo by Kattecat/ Shutterstock
The day after Thanksgiving is known for the deluge of holiday shoppers that descends on stores for serious savings. Some will tell you that the term “Black Friday” originally referred to the bottom lines of these stores, as the day of skyrocketing sales sent them out of the “red” (losing money) and into the “black” (making money) — hence, “Black Friday.” However, the origins of the phrase are a bit murkier. The first known use of “Black Friday” to describe the day after Thanksgiving comes from the November 1951 issue of the page-turning magazine Factory Management and Maintenance. In it, a writer hyperbolically describes the day as “a disease second only to the bubonic plague in its effects. At least that’s the feeling of those who have to get production out, when the ‘Black Friday’ comes along. The shop may be half empty, but every absentee was sick … ” In other words, “Black Friday” wasn’t about hordes of shoppers pulsing through stores, but weary (and possibly hungover) factory workers calling in sick.
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It's a fibMany nations around the world reserve a day on the calendar to give thanks. For example, Canada celebrates its Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October (and yes, Canadians also eat turkeys). Other nations around the world similarly give thanks but with varying traditions.
Although this is the first recorded use of the term, it’s unlikely that this version is what eventually became known across the U.S. as “Black Friday” in the late 20th century. Our modern sense of the term likely originated in the 1950s, when Philadelphia cops began using “Black Friday” to describe the traffic mayhem of shoppers and sports fans descending on the city after Thanksgiving and before the Army-Navy football game on Saturday. Philadelphia stores tried to change the name to “Big Friday” but failed, so instead transformed the day’s negative connotation into a positive one, and the idea of “Black Friday” as a day of financial solvency was born.
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The ______ tribe inhabited the land now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts, before the pilgrims.
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The Wampanoag tribe inhabited the land now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts, before the pilgrims.
Benjamin Franklin never wanted the turkey to be the national bird.
A common myth from the United States’ nascent years is that Benjamin Franklin, the polymath inventor and founding father, advocated for the humble turkey to be the national avian symbol rather than the more fearsome-looking bald eagle. Although Franklin loved turkeys more than your average 18th-century celebrity, he never seriously considered the turkey a suitable U.S. icon. The myth originates from a letter Franklin wrote criticizing the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary patriotic organization founded by former Revolutionary officers in 1783 (and, incidentally, the inspiration for the name of Cincinnati, Ohio). Franklin wrote that the bird on the society’s seal looked more like a turkey than an eagle. To clarify that he was not maligning the noble game bird, Franklin described the turkey as a “respectable bird,” a “true original Native of America,” and a “Bird of Courage.” Conversely, Franklin described the bald eagle as a creature of “bad moral Character.” Yet the larger focus of the letter was meant to criticize the hereditary nature of the Society of Cincinnati, which Franklin felt was contrary to American principles. He never actively advocated for the turkey to replace the bald eagle, and his bird-related comments may have been intended merely as a humorous aside.
Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
