Over the years, Black Friday has become its own fake national holiday. So, since when did the phrase become associated with excessive spending, astonishing deals and immense profits? In fact, history has shown us that the word “Black” has long been associated with loss, devastation, or just plain good luck. For example, the liquidation day just before the stock market crash of 1929 was called Black Monday. Another example occurred in 1954, it was called Black Wednesday because it was a day of widespread chaos in air traffic (Stout). In fact, the first use of the term Black Friday dates back to 1870, by the New York Times, in an article about the crash of the gold (Stout) market. Notably, an executive producer of Vocabulary.com, Ben Zimmer, stated that "its association with shopping the day after Thanksgiving began in Philadelphia in the 1960s" (qdt. In Stout). This was mainly due to hordes of consumers heading to their stores, triggering major traffic problems, so it became a far from positive benchmark. In fact, many retailers wanted to give the day a more positive name, like Big Friday, but it never caught on. Thus, a new meaning has been associated with Black Friday. According to Zimmer, this meant "The day retailers' books turned from red ink to black" (qdt. In Stout). While on November 29, 2013, there was an article in US News Digital Weekly titled “Black Friday by the Number” (Zalan). This quiz focused on financial aspects such as hot toys, number of shoppers, and total number of retailers hired for the Black Friday 2012 shopping season. Notably, during this Thanksgiving weekend, shoppers have spent an average of $423 each. Additionally, approximately 700,000...... middle of paper ...... keeping their businesses closed on Thanksgiving, as well as consumers boycotting stores, also launching online petitions and causing some to go on strike workers (Tuttle)? “Black Friday Breakdown. » Newsweek. Newsweek LLC, November 28, 2011. Academic research completed. Web. March 18, 2014. Hauser, Christine. “The Black Friday Show and Sales.” » New York Times. New York Times, November 29, 2013 Web March 24, 2014. Stout, Hilary. “The Transformation of Black Friday”. New York Times, November 23, 2014. Web March 24, 2014. Tuttle, Brad. “Tis the season of begging, of pressure.” And the guilt retailers need to stop ruining the season. " Time.com. Time Inc., November 14, 2013. Academic research completed. Web. March 24, 2014. Zalan, Kira. " Black Friday By The Numbers. " US New Digital Weekly. United States News, March 29, 2013. Academic research ended March 18. 2014.