There’s a free circus each year after Thanksgiving

Black Friday. The official unofficial start to the Christmas holiday shopping season, or as I like to call it “Cirque de Madness.” The day’s name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation was made: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss (“in the red”) from January through November, and “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or “in the black.” I just cannot begin to understand why people participate in such madness. Will you save money? Maybe. But is it really worth getting up at 4 a.m. just to drive to Longview or Mount Pleasant just to save 10 percent or so? A lot of people think so, and they can go right ahead as I am still sound asleep in my nice warm bed.

 

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