By the way, it is the only instance I can think of in which the word "black" is used in a positive sense.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Black Friday
I think it is very funny that the big retailers in São Paulo are getting ready for their Black Friday sales with newspaper promos and pop up ads on the internet, even though today is not a holiday. Heitor asked me this morning if I knew the significance of the term Black Friday. Perhaps I´m wrong, but I would imagine most Brazilians don´t have any idea. Why would they?
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6 comments:
Those of us "crazy motherfuckers" who are Republicans and also have been involved in business for a long time have used the "black" term in a positive, nay, extremely positive way. If a business is not "in the black" it can't survive and can't provide taxes and jobs and pensions. Most people think that Black Friday is now called that because it is when retailers begin to show a profit for the year.
Just one example.
Since you are from Nebraska, you should also remember that the best of the best defensive players get to wear the Black Shirts. A big achievement for those players.
The association of "black" with profitability, and the association of profitability with Black Friday was what I had in mind when I said it is the only cultural instance I can think of in which the word "black" is used as a positive thing.
A friend sent me the wikipedia link for Black Friday. It has a much more complicated origin than profitability, as it turns out.
You're right. The Black Shirts of Nebraska (as opposed to those of Mussolini) are positive.
It is not certain that "Black Friday" came directly from "in the black," but it is now pretty much accepted.
The association with black as a really, really good thing goes back a long way in business, long before Black Friday.
Do you remember when the adding machines would print positive numbers in black and the negative numbers in red? All of us who have lived a business life try to avoid the red numbers.
I have tried to think about other associations with the color black, and I guess I just haven't thought much about it. However, when it comes to clothing, black signifies power, formality and makes people (I think they mean "women")look thinner. Unless you have a different fetish, that is positive? And no woman has a complete wardrobe without the "little black dress."
You really can't say too much about some other colors, like brown. Or yellow. Except I remember George Gobel's question, "Have you ever thought the whole work is a tuxedo and you're a brown pair of shoes?" I hope he meant a black tuxedo because the awkward wedding pictures of guys in pastel green tuxedos and a mullet are just too embarrassing.
I guess I am not getting your point. Sorry.
Correction: "...the whole world is a tuxedo..."
Bob - My point is/was that all of the cultural associations with the word black are negative, with this one exception of black with profitability. Hence Black Friday
The black sheep of the family.
A black mark on your record.
The hero is a white hat; the villain in black.
The black death.
Black cat = bad luck.
As it turns out, the term Black Friday has a much more complicated history than just an association with profitability. But I didn´t know that.
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