can somebody explain to me what black friday is i have no clue?

Answer 1

The day after Thanksgiving became known as Black Friday because it was the day retailers got out of the red and into the black and began making a profit for the year. These days retailers are expected to make a profit long before the end of the year.

Answer 2

I think there is more than one actual definition for Black Friday:

(1) September 24, 1869 - the collapse of the U.S. gold market
(2) October 25, 1929 - the New York stock exchange crashed
(3) The day after Thanksgiving which is when most citizens begin their frantic Christmas shopping. It can be a very profitable day for retailers or not so hot, depending on the economy

Answer 3

It is the biggest shopping day of the year! It takes place the day after Thanksgiving and marks the beginning of the shopping season. There are always tons of crowds at malls and shopping centers. So many people go on Black Friday because there are HUGE sales and who doesn't like sales? Most stores put so many sales on to attract more customers, which gives them tons of profit. Its called 'Black' Friday because the stores mark their high profit with black ink and debt with red ink. Also, it helps people get finished with their Christmas shopping early. Most people get up early and have plans just to shop cause it is really crazy! Hope I helped! Happy Holidays!

Answer 4

Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving (Nov 24 this year). Stores and malls usually extend hours and hold sales as it is regarded as the first day of shopping for the holiday season, and is often incredibly busy.

Answer 5

The Friday after Thanksgiving that is the biggest shopping day for retailers for the holiday season. It's also a big zoo at stores that I try to avoid if at all costs.

Answer 6

Black Friday...it's the colloquial name given to the day after thanksgiving, which is known as the biggest shopping day of the year.

Friday because it is the friday after turkey/family feasting and black because department store stocks go into the black on the money ledger book, instead of the red. (black profit, red debt)

I like to call it black friday because it is the day that every mom and grandma throws down on at Toys R Us when trying to get the very last "popular" toy on the shelf for their kids'; christmas present.

Answer 7

And it's called Black Friday because the retail industry hopes that they will "go into the black" ink on their accounts instead of being "in the red"

Answer 8

BLACK FRIDAY (SHOPPING) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_Sale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. Most retailers will open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products.

Although Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic, it is not typically the day with the highest sales volume. That is usually either Christmas Eve or the last Saturday before Christmas.

Origin

The first use of this term to describe the day after Thanksgiving is not exactly known. There are two popular theories as to its origin.

Accounting practice

One theory is that stores traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season. When this would be recorded in the financial records, common accounting practices use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink would show positive amounts. Black Friday is the beginning of the period where they would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).

Stress from large crowds

Another theory comes from the fact that shopping experience on this day can be extremely stressful. The term is used as a comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Thursday or other black days. According to The Word Spy:

Earliest Citation:
Christmas decorations around Tampa Bay started going up in late October, and business has been brisk since then. And while Friday--known as Black Friday for the legendary hordes--will be the biggest shopping day for many area stores, others ring up the greatest sales the Saturday before Christmas.
—Marilyn Marks, "Retailers expect good sales this Christmas," St. Petersburg Times, November 27, 1986

There exists an earlier reference, speaking to the Friday after Thanksgiving:

A BLACK FRIDAY.
There have been many Black Fridays in recent history. Most of them have been days of financial panic. There has been none of blacker foreboding than last Friday. And the blackness is not loss or fear of loss in stocks and bonds.
New York Times (1857-Current file).
New York, N.Y.: Dec 3, 1922. pg. 38, 1 pgs
ISSN/ISBN 03624331

Employees of retail stores have for years referred to Black Friday in a satirical way, to note the extremely stressful and hectic nature of the day. Heavy traffic and customer demands added to the long hours make it a difficult day.


Black Friday on the Internet

Advertisements in advance

Certain websites such as DealTaker.com offer information about Black Friday deals up to a month in advance. The text listings of prices are usually accompanied by adscans -- complete PDFs either leaked by insiders, or intentionally released by large retailers to give consumers insight and allow them time to plan.

Cyber Monday

The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, which unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday online shopping season.

In recent years, Cyber Monday has become a busy day for online retailers, with some sites offering low prices and other promotions on that day.

Controversy

Response (Buy Nothing Day)

Anti-consumer frenzy protesters have chosen this day as Buy Nothing Day in North America, where those concerned about the increasing power and influence of consumer corporations are urged to not make consumer purchases.

DMCA

In recent years, some retailers (including Wal-Mart, Target Corporation, Best Buy, and Staples, Inc.) have claimed that the advertisements they send in advance of Black Friday and the prices included in those advertisement are intellectual property and protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Using the take down provision of the DMCA, these retailers have threatened various internet web sites who post Black Friday prices to the internet in advance of the intended release date by the retailers. This policy apparently derives from a fear that competitors, in addition to customers, will also have access to this information and use it for competitive advantage. The actual validity of the claim that prices are protected intellectual property is uncertain as prices might be considered a 'fact' in which case they would not receive the same level of protection as pure intellectual property.

The benefit of threatening internet sites with a DMCA based lawsuit has proved tenuous at best. While some sites have complied with the requests, others have either ignored the threats or simply continued to post the information under the name of a similar sounding fictional retailer.

Answer 9

The shopping day after Thanksgiving.

Answer 10

The busiest retail day of the year. People who are buying gifts to celebrate one of their holiest days of their year - the birth of Jesus, who preached love, tolerance, understaing of thy neighbor, acting like total jackasses; rude, pushing, shoving, cursing the poor retail workers because they ran out of some inane little product that will be used twice and then forgotten.

Stay home, have fun. Don't go shoppping.