Black friday is coming. Shall we go shopping?”. Everyone, from Torre del Greco to Sesto San Giovanni, to put in his mouth the English words of this day as if it exists. Power of an invented name.
Once we went “shopping at Christmastime”. We bought socks, scarves and televisions. We did the same thing and it worked great. But the expression sounded too homely. Now to be “cool” we use words of the less known languange for Italians. So nobody really understands what he is saying. Do you want to know the “ranking” of the most sought after “black friday” shopping products? There is the “Sony PlayStation 4 Slim”, many “smartphones”, including the “Apple iPhone XR”, the “Apple iPhone 11”, the “Apple air Pods 2”; many “sneakers” including the “Adidas Stan Smith” and the “Saucony Jazz Original Vintage”. Then there is the “Dyson Cyclone V11 Absolute”, some “smartwatch” and the “Google Home Mini”. Has anyone noticed that he is speaking in another language?
Black friday: what does it mean?
In Italian black friday would sound “venerdì nero“, an expression that recalls the so-called days of “exodus” for the holidays. Or a day of mourning. Other than “shopping”. And in fact among the possible origins of the name there is also that linked to the traffic that would have congested Philadelphia in one of the first Fridays in question. But more likely the origin of this expression has the flavor of accounting, that is, when the traders, after having marked the accounts in red until then, with the approach of Christmas they begin to write down the numbers in black colour, that is in positive.
And then the “black friday” is counted starting from the day of thanksgiving, a typically American feast wanted by the Pilgrim Fathers. Unknown event in Italy. So what are we talking about? Someone who in Busto Arsizio or Giugliano, in Guidonia or Marsala feels “cool” to hear the words “shopping” and “black friday” in his mouth, is really there? If you want to enjoy the “black friday” shopping go to New York. Otherwise, it’s fine to say that you go “shopping”, or “for shops”, maybe not even in a mall but in a nice little shop once to buy a nice scarf. Any Friday under Christmas. A little pride.