- "Black Friday" used to refer to stock market crashes in the 1800s.
Although it is now known as the biggest shopping day in the US, the term "Black Friday" originally referred to very different events.
"Black for centuries has been used for various calamities," says linguist Benjamin Zimmer, executive editor of Vocabulary.com.
In the US, the first time the term was used was on 24 September 1869, when two speculators, Jay Gould and James Fisk, tried to corner the gold market on the New York Stock Exchange.
When the government stepped in to correct the distortion by flooding the market with gold, prices plummeted and many investors lost sizeable fortunes.
2. "Santa Claus parades" were Black Friday's predecessor.
For many Americans, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has become part of the holiday ritual.
But the event actually was inspired from the US's neighbours in the north. Canadian department store Eaton's held the first "Santa Claus parade" on 2 December 1905. Once Santa appeared at the end of the parade, the signal was that the holiday season - and thus, holiday shopping, had begun. Of course, consumers were encouraged to buy their presents at Eaton's.
US department stores such as Macy's took inspiration from the parade, and started sponsoring similar efforts across the country. In 1924, New York saw the first Macy's parade featuring animals from Central Park Zoo and run by the store's employees.
2. "Santa Claus parades" were Black Friday's predecessor.
For many Americans, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has become part of the holiday ritual.
But the event actually was inspired from the US's neighbours in the north. Canadian department store Eaton's held the first "Santa Claus parade" on 2 December 1905. Once Santa appeared at the end of the parade, the signal was that the holiday season - and thus, holiday shopping, had begun. Of course, consumers were encouraged to buy their presents at Eaton's.
US department stores such as Macy's took inspiration from the parade, and started sponsoring similar efforts across the country. In 1924, New York saw the first Macy's parade featuring animals from Central Park Zoo and run by the store's employees.
3. The date of Thanksgiving was, indirectly, determined by holiday shoppers.
From the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, in a custom started by US President Abraham Lincoln, the president would declare a "day of thanks giving" on the last Thursday in November. This could either fall on the fourth or fifth Thursday in the month.
But in 1939, a funny thing happened - the last Thursday happened to be the last day in November. Retailers, worried about the shortened holiday shopping season, petitioned then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to declare the holiday a week earlier - which he did.
For the next three years, Thanksgiving was known derisively as "Franks giving" and celebrated on different days in different parts of the country.
Finally, at the end of 1941, a joint resolution from Congress cleared up the matter. From then on, Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November - guaranteeing an extra week of shopping before Christmas.
- 'Friday-after-Thanks giving - it is'
According to Bonnie Taylor-Blake, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Factory Management and Maintenance - a labour market newsletter - lays claim to the first use of the term as it relates to the holiday.
In 1951 the circular drew attention to the suspiciously high level of sickness that day.
"'Friday-after-Thanks giving -it is' is a disease second only to the bubonic plague in its effects. At least that's the feeling of those who have to get production out, when Black Friday comes along. The shop may be half empty, but every absentee was sick - and can prove it,"
- Big Friday?
Image captionA New York Times report from 1975 locates the phrase "Black Friday" as a bit of Philadelphia slang
The city that first popularised the term was Philadelphia. Police officers, frustrated by the congestion caused by shoppers on the day, started referring to it derisively as "Black Friday".
Unsurprisingly, retailers weren't happy to be associated with traffic and smog.