I'm dreaming of a Red Friday.

Fuck the companies! Yeah!

Heh when I was younger I used to think it was called Black Friday because it was the day Jesus was crucified on. I thought it was the opposite of Good Friday. And I wondered why the hell it was such a big shopping day. Stupid consumerism holiday... I'm staying the hell off the roads except maybe to go see some bands at night. The day Jesus was crucified on (a Thursday?) should be called good.

FYI, Friday was originally called Freya's Day.

Seeing how they got Halloween to be celebrated the American Way (pumpkins, trick or treat etc.) in countries that had nothing to do with it, like Italy, this should not surprise anyone.

Maes said:

Seeing how they got Halloween to be celebrated the American Way (pumpkins, trick or treat etc.) in countries that had nothing to do with it

Yeah, we do Halloween in an increasingly American way too. All those pumpkins and little chav shits ringing your doorbell saying "trick or treat" and expecting money just for being there.

In Scotland the ridiculous celebration of "tartan day" is becoming increasing recognised too. This is an American invention for them to celebrate how "Scahddish" they are (ie, not at all) but we suck it down because too many people in Scotland swallow the tartan and shortbread pish as well and, more importantly, it makes money because Americans are prepared to spend, spend, spend to celebrate it.

Quite why "tartan day" had to be invented when we already have national celebrations like St. Andrews day and Burn's night I don't know. And setting it on the day of the signing of the declaration of Arbroath - almost 700 years ago, in a Scotland that has nothing to do with the Scotland that agreed to join with England almost 400 years later, much less present day Scotland, is kind of flakey too. Certainly the declaration of Arbroath has bugger-all relevance to the New York Caledonian Club who came up with the stupid idea. And you know what, the signing of the declaration of Arbroath pre-dates tartan anyway. What's more, the modern concept of tartan was invented by two English charlatans claiming to be descendants of Bonnie Prince Charlie to capitalise on the sudden interest in the "romance of Scotland" by the King of Britain in the early 1800s.

Mind you, I've heard of a few cases where "Irish Americans", "Scottish Americans", "Italian Americans" etc get upset when people who are actually from Ireland, Scotland, Italy etc tell them what they think of their claims to be Irish, Scottish, Italian etc. (ie, they're not.)

You know what the real tartan day should be? A day trip to Glasgow where some wee ned wearing a track suit and a Burberry cap stabs you, stamps on your head when you fall over and then steals all the money you were going to spend buying shortbread, whisky and a stupid doll with a kilt on. Go Scotland!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Day

http://www.glasgowsurvival.co.uk/


And back closer to the topic, I thought the day was "good" Friday because although it marks the day of the crucifixion (which wouldn't seem to be particularly good), the crucifixion itself marked the fulfillment of the prophecies and start of the process that would lead to the resurrection and thereby the whole proof that Christ was indeed the son of God and that it hadn't all just been BS. But I'm prepared to be corrected on that.

Americans take their heritage very seriously. It's a country which is a mix of about 2,000 different cultures, so everyone likes to announce theirs. I'm personally rather proud of my German-Danish/British heritage (rawr, Anglo-Saxon all the way). Some people take it a bit too far, though, and act like they're still in their country and that everyone who acts "American" is a piece of shit. It's mostly first and second generation immigrants, though. Mainly the asians and latinos. Get them in groups and suddenly you're the "stupid white boy". I may be proud of my blood heritage, but I'm also proud to be an American. Also, learn to speak the damn language. :x

Yeah, went on a bit of a tirade there.

ASK ME ABOUT FOOTBALL / STEAM / DEAD CELEBRITIES / THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT / AMERICAN HOLIDAYS / SCOTLAND

:P

Gez said:

ASK ME ABOUT FOOTBALL / STEAM / DEAD CELEBRITIES / THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT / AMERICAN HOLIDAYS / SCOTLAND

:P

And I was going to put at the end of my post

"In B4 'ask me about tartan day'"

but I thought, nah, it's getting old, no one will bother. :P

;)

Enjay said:
And back closer to the topic, I thought the day was "good" Friday because although it marks the day of the crucifixion (which wouldn't seem to be particularly good), the crucifixion itself marked the fulfillment of the prophecies and start of the process that would lead to the resurrection and thereby the whole proof that Christ was indeed the son of God and that it hadn't all just been BS. But I'm prepared to be corrected on that.

This seems to answer why it's called Good in English. In many languages it translates to "Holy Friday".

Danarchy said:

Americans take their heritage very seriously.

I don't doubt it and, to be fair, why shouldn't they. However, (if you can believe this) it doesn't really bother me but I know some people get very uptight about Americans saying things like "I'm really Scottish you know because my great grandaddy was from ucktermuckty" and then continue to make a bunch of crass statements that serve no other purpose than to show how little they know about the reality of being Scottish or living in Scotland. Particularly as they often do so in the balmy sunshine of a Californian Summer whilst we sit here in the pissy grey rain of a Scottish one. ;)

myk said:

This seems to answer why it's called Good in English. In many languages it translates to "Holy Friday".

That makes sense. Thanks.

I work retail on black friday.

rf` said:

I work retail on black friday.

I feel your pain, dear friend. When I worked at Target I had to work black Friday because I was a newbie. That's also the same morning the alternator went out on my car at the time :(

Over worked, underpaid, and now trampled to death:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081128/us/usreport_us_usa_holidaysales_death_1

The fuck is wrong with people?

Man, I just heard about that and it's just sickening. I thought that kind of activity only happened in movies but I should have known better.

Enjay said:

I don't doubt it and, to be fair, why shouldn't they. However, (if you can believe this) it doesn't really bother me but I know some people get very uptight about Americans saying things like "I'm really Scottish you know because my great grandaddy was from ucktermuckty" and then continue to make a bunch of crass statements that serve no other purpose than to show how little they know about the reality of being Scottish or living in Scotland. Particularly as they often do so in the balmy sunshine of a Californian Summer whilst we sit here in the pissy grey rain of a Scottish one. ;)

Well, at least I have a leg up on them since I live in Washington, a land with about the same climate as the British Isles. The main difference is that the constant rain and overcast manifests itself as moors over there and rain forests here, probably because of our rich, volcanic soil. So I guess I'm a tiny bit in tune with my English and Scots Irish ancestors. :P

There aren't many parts of Australia with a climate similar to the British Isles so we've had to make do by surrounding ourselves with as many pest species (plant and animal) as will tolerate the climate. :P

We don't have a holiday to mark the start of the Christmas shopping season yet somehow I don't feel deprived. The most hectic shopping days tend to be in the week following Christmas when people are bargain hunting - that culminates in the New Year sales which sometimes get out of hand in the major department stores and degenerate into stampedes.

POTGIESSER said:

The fuck is wrong with people?

There was also a shooting in a Toys R Us in LA, but I'm not sure if it was related to black friday. Shit sucks, though.

POTGIESSER said:

Over worked, underpaid, and now trampled to death:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081128/us/usreport_us_usa_holidaysales_death_1

Knee Deep in Walmart.

POTGIESSER said:

Over worked, underpaid, and now trampled to death:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081128/us/usreport_us_usa_holidaysales_death_1

The fuck is wrong with people?

That was not the kind of Red Friday I had in mind. I should have known my expected disappointment would be exceeded by stupid cattle.

Enjay said:

And back closer to the topic, I thought the day was "good" Friday because although it marks the day of the crucifixion (which wouldn't seem to be particularly good), the crucifixion itself marked the fulfillment of the prophecies and start of the process that would lead to the resurrection and thereby the whole proof that Christ was indeed the son of God and that it hadn't all just been BS. But I'm prepared to be corrected on that.

I thought I heard he supposedly came after 24 hours so I was thinking Friday was the day he allegedly came back. I guess that makes it Saturday.

Even though I'm sure most, if not all, of the people involved were blissfully unaware of what had happened (and I can't decide if that makes it better or worse), that trampling of the Wal-mart employee serves as a classic example of the short sighted, selfish, greedy nature of your average human. The rush to get to the goods before the next guy and spend spend spend for their own gratification (and let's not forget that it was 5 in the morning) put any thoughts of decency, community and concern for fellow human beings on the back burner, as some poor bastard got trampled underfoot.

That's what I love about this season. "Peace and good will to all men"? Let's celebrate that sentiment by selfishly clamouring for what we want and indulging in gross acts of gluttony whilst 3/4 of the world starves and some poor sod gets trampled to death.

Humans suck.

Gokuma said:

I thought I heard he supposedly came after 24 hours so I was thinking Friday was the day he allegedly came back. I guess that makes it Saturday.

Yeah, I used to think that too, but at some point I realised that the days were wrong for it.

Didn't the same thing happen a year or two back in a Wal-Mart? Or did the person not die that time?

But I must say, as misanthropic as I am I just can't picture it. I can't imagine that many adults behaving like that. I thought people lined up...

That'll teach ya.

Richo Rosai said:

I can't imagine that many adults behaving like that.

You've clearly never been shopping at one of those "flashpoint" time of years. It's brutal out there. Spending the night in a Mumbai hotel would be safer. ;)

Gokuma said:

FYI, Friday was originally called Freya's Day.

actually it was Frigga originally, but became Freya later. some think the two goddesses are the same while others seperate them.

as for black friday, it was a term that retailers came up with to describe the utter mayhem that comes the day after thanksgiving. they end up spending a fortune on sale advertisements and overtime pay for the employees and end up taking a loss on that day. this is because they discount most of the inventory to bring in more customers who don't buy as much as the retailers thought they would, thus the advertising and overtime eat up the profits they thought they'd be making. add to that the insane nature of the customers, ie: the walmart incident, the shooting at toy'r'us, you get one hell of a day. half the customers are just walkin around lookin at stuff and give up cuz there are too many people and not enough product. I got a crash course on this when I worked at tower video. lots-o-fun.

Enjay said:

You've clearly never been shopping at one of those "flashpoint" time of years. It's brutal out there. Spending the night in a Mumbai hotel would be safer. ;)

Well, I grew up in a pretty small town. And as adult I'm a pretty hard-core shut-in. These days you can even buy perishables online, so why go shopping?

But one day I'll have to stand clear--perhaps perched in a tree and armed with tranquilizer darts--and see this for myself.

VileSlay said:

as for black friday, it was a term that retailers came up with to describe the utter mayhem that comes the day after thanksgiving. they end up spending a fortune on sale advertisements and overtime pay for the employees and end up taking a loss on that day. this is because they discount most of the inventory to bring in more customers who don't buy as much as the retailers thought they would, thus the advertising and overtime eat up the profits they thought they'd be making. add to that the insane nature of the customers, ie: the walmart incident, the shooting at toy'r'us, you get one hell of a day. half the customers are just walkin around lookin at stuff and give up cuz there are too many people and not enough product. I got a crash course on this when I worked at tower video. lots-o-fun.

Despite the fact that the walmart that I work at did over $800,000 in sales that day alone.

Richo Rosai said:

I thought people lined up...

Queueing at the retail equivalent of a feeding frenzy? Not if you want to grab a bargain.

VileSlay said:

as for black friday, it was a term that retailers came up with to describe the utter mayhem that comes the day after thanksgiving. they end up spending a fortune on sale advertisements and overtime pay for the employees and end up taking a loss on that day. this is because they discount most of the inventory to bring in more customers who don't buy as much as the retailers thought they would, thus the advertising and overtime eat up the profits they thought they'd be making.

You have it backwards. When a business does not make profits, they're said to be "in the red". When they do make profits, they're "in the black". If having huge sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving caused a loss, then why would anybody do it?

Richo Rosai said:

But one day I'll have to stand clear--perhaps perched in a tree and armed with tranquilizer darts--and see this for myself.

You said you can even get perishables online, so the logical leap is to look for this kind on phenomenon online from the safety of your own house. ;)

Enjay said...
Youtube videos

I don't think I will ever go shopping on a Black Friday. I don't know if I'll even leave the house...

From the thread title: Red Friday? Does this have anything to do with politics?

Yeah, the Communists lead by Socialist Obama are taking over! OMG! Equal portions for all!

No, it was a reference to the meaning of Black Friday that I was hoping retailer's profit margins were going to stay in the red.