Attention: 'Black' in Black Friday does not refer to the obtainable bruises and black eyes while shopping

Retail-hungry consumers swarm a kiosk.

Black Friday is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year and has marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season since the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924.

Sales after sales after sales can be found at pretty much every retail store and outlet on this hectic day and have resulted in fights and even deathly stampedes, like when a Long Island Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in 2008 after a mob of shoppers smashed through the stores' doors as they tried to grab Black Friday deals.

Women and children race to grab discounted holiday gifts.

Many Americans look forward to this much anticipated day after Thanksgiving, but many do not stop and wonder where this notorious day got its name.

The earliest known reference to "Black Friday" was made by the Philadelphia Police Department in a 1966 due to the massive amounts of traffic and over-crowded sidewalks that the day would bring as it officially launched the Christmas shopping season.

Long line of customers waiting outside of Target.

The origin of the term "Black Friday" also comes from "when accounting records were kept by hand, red ink indicated financial loss while black ink indicated profit, thus coining the popular fiscal term of being "in the red," (loosing money) or "in the black" (profitable)" ("History and Origin of Black Friday").

Although the term seems to have been around for a few centuries, it did not achieve widespread use and popularity until about 2002.

The way I see it, Black Friday is the one day out of the year when it is okay for people to transform into barbarians and live up to the materialistic stereotype that we have been given as Americans.

Personally, I hate waiting in long lines and would prefer not to risk getting trampled on by retail-hungry consumers. Not only that, but I would also much rather get a full night's rest instead of waking up early to get those "door buster deals." So this Black Friday, I will be partaking in some online shopping, and if you are like me, I suggest you do the same.

Works Cited

"Black Friday (shopping)." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 26 Nov. 2010. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Gould, Joe et.al. "Worked dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede." NY Daily News. NYDailyNews.com, 28 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

"History and Origin of Black Friday." BlackFridayandCyberMonday.com. BlackFridayandCyberMonday.com. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.

Lowery, A. "Why is it Called Black Friday? The History and Origin of Black Friday." Ezine Articles. EzineArticles.com, 18 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.