Black Friday – Zuerst war er für den Börsencrash am Schwarzen Freitag bekannt – dann für den größten Einkaufstag des Jahres.

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Black Friday is the European term for the Wall Street crash at the New York Stock Exchange in 1929. In fact, the crash occurred on Thursday 24 October, but by the time the news reached Europe it was already Friday. On that day, the Dow Jones crashed on a massive scale, triggering a worldwide economic crisis.

The more contemporary meaning refers to the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, which has also traditionally been a holiday for many employees. It is typically a day full of special shopping deals and heavy discounts and is considered as the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

So why the name? Some say „Black Friday“ refers to the term “to be in the black“, which means to be profitable. In old bookkeeping practice profits were written in black ink and losses in red ink. The reasoning is that retail businesses sell enough on this Friday to put themselves „in the black” for the rest of the year.

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term – Begriff

occurred – ereignete sich

triggering– auslösen

discounts – Rabatte

considered – wird betrachtet

profitable – einträglich, lukrativ

bookkeeping – Buchhaltung

ink – Tinte

losses – Verluste

retail – Einzelhandel

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