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Why is it called Black Friday?

Hi, everyone!

I’m Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com.

My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently and confidently.

In today’s episode:

• I’ll talk about Black Friday. I’m sure many of you would like to know why is it called like that and where do people celebrate Black Friday.

Is it only an American tradition?

• Next, through a point of View story, you’ll practice grammar without memorizing any rules, and you’ll even get to have some fun.

Very well. Let’s get started!

Have you noticed that this week everyone talks about the BLACK FRIDAY?

But, most importantly, have you ever wondered why it’s called BLACK Friday?

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. Most stores come out with tantalizing sales to attract shoppers to their stores. People wait in line hours before the shops open to grab the bargains of the year.

Black Friday’s the name given to the shopping day after Thanksgiving.

It was originally called Black Friday because so many people went out shopping and caused traffic accidents and at times even violence.

Things have changed over the past five years. Research shows that the number of offers reached a peak the week before Thanksgiving Day. For example, the best day to buy toys is the day before Thanksgiving. Most electronic offers are available at the beginning of November.

What’s really happening in the last years is that many businesses now sponsor “The Black Friday Week”. Promotions start on Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, which also prevents buyers from queuing up endlessly and people are a lot more relaxed.

Black Friday Around the World

In the UK, the term “Black Friday” initially referred to the Friday before Christmas. For the past seven years, U. S. companies such as Amazon, Walmart and some of Britain’s top retailers, began promoting American Black Friday in November.

In 2015, dozens of Dutch retailers and brands from around the world came together to create Black Friday Nederland. Black Friday isn’t a national shopping holiday in the Netherlands. However, it’s a great opportunity for Dutch people to get big discounts and purchase most of their Christmas gifts.

You can also find Black Friday Sale in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This is a German-speaking e-commerce portal available in these three European countries.

Now that you know a little more about Black Friday we’ll continue with a funny story. You’ll learn new words and practice grammar in an intuitive way.

Point of View Story 📖

(Improve your grammar)

Ok, let’s move on to the next section.

Let’s practice some grammar with the Point of View Technique. The main benefit of this technique is that it’ll help you to learn grammar intuitively, without boring exercises or memorizing rules.

How does it work?

I’ll tell you a short story more than one time. Every time, I’ll change a grammar point. For example, I can change the tense or the person. This way, you’ll intuitively recognize the changes.

Let’s get started!

I’ll tell you a true story which happened some years ago in the U.S.

First, from my point of view:

Some years ago, there was a big deal at Walmart. 🛍Walmart offered a plasma TV at a very low price and was the hottest deal of the year.

A man showed up the Tuesday before the big sale with a 🏕tent, ice coolers, generator, 📺TV and everything he needed to brave the three nights he would be staying over. He continuously talked about being first in line and how he was going to get the plasma TV.

On Thursday night, he was still there in a cheerful mood grateful that he was going to get home and sleep in his own bed. The news came, and he did a brief interview. He explained that he was very excited about the whole thing and how he was so proud of himself for resisting the cold.

That Friday morning there were thousands of people waiting to enter. At 5:00 am, the doors opened, and the man went straight to the plasma televisions to see that everyone was gone.

So, what happened? The Walmart garden center opened about 10 seconds before the front doors, and those who arrived the night before took the 15 plasma televisions.

This guy who had been there since Tuesday afternoon, was stunned and started arguing with management. Nevertheless, he was told that nothing could be done. That Thanksgiving was a sure failure.

Now let’s listen to the same story from the man’s point of view: Some years ago, there was a big deal at Walmart. 🛍Walmart offered a plasma TV at a very low price and was the hottest deal of the year.

I showed up the Tuesday before the big sale with a 🏕tent, ice coolers, generator, 📺TV and everything I needed to brave the three nights I would be staying over. I continuously talked about being first in line and how I was going to get the plasma TV.

On Thursday night, I was still there in a cheerful mood grateful that I was going to get home and sleep in my own bed. The news came, and I did a brief interview. I explained that I was very excited about the whole thing and how I was so proud of myself for resisting the cold.

That Friday morning there were thousands of people waiting to enter. At 5:00 am, the doors opened, and I went straight to the plasma televisions to see that everyone was gone.

So, what happened? Apparently, the Walmart garden center opened about 10 seconds before the front doors, and those who arrived the night before took the 15 plasma televisions.

So I had been there since Tuesday afternoon, and I was stunned. I started arguing with management. Nevertheless, I was told that nothing could be done. That Thanksgiving was a total failure.

Ok! Awesome! It’s the end of this short lesson.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the story. It’s incredible how much you can learn using this method. You can forget about memorizing grammar rules.

English can also be fun. I’m sure you can agree on that. J Now I’d like to announce something very important.

This week I’m celebrating the Black Friday Week on my website! You’ll find some very interesting deals!

Now you can get all the courses for a lower price. Go to: Courses.SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

And get all my courses at a lower price!

See you soon and have a wonderful week! Bye! Bye!