Philly cops coined the term 'Black Friday'
As you leave your home in a post-Thanksgiving haze to go forth and spend hard-earned dollars on what ostensibly are deep, deep discounts on popular consumer goods today — the dreaded Black Friday — please remember one thing: It all started right here.
As you leave your home in a post-Thanksgiving haze to go forth and spend hard-earned dollars on what ostensibly are deep, deep discounts on popular consumer goods today — the dreaded Black Friday — please remember one thing: It all started right here.
Well, calling it "Black Friday," anyway.
Temple University professor and psychologist Frank Farley recently spoke with NBC about the naming of what now is a sort of national holiday in its own right, saying that we have Philly cops to thank for the term.
"Back in the 1930s, there was the Army-Navy game on Saturday," he told NBC. "The day before, people are rushing into Philly; the police are overwhelmed, and the idea of this day is just a very, very bad day for the cops. It became labeled 'Black Friday' by the police."