Remove ads
All Videos

Black Friday? What is it?

Why the day after Thanksgiving became the biggest shopping day of the year, where the name came from and how it spread to countries that never celebrate Thanksgiving.

What began as one busy Friday in American shops is now a season in dozens of countries, many of which have no Thanksgiving to hang it on. Shops stretch it across a week, Cyber Monday follows for online sales, and the discounts are large enough that the whole retail year is planned around them.

That makes it a topic with a genuine question inside it, which is rare in beginner material: are the sales really a saving, or a reason to buy things nobody needed? Students at A2 and above can argue both sides with everyday language – it was reduced from, I got it for, it is a waste of money, you only buy it because it is cheap – and the argument is more useful practice than the vocabulary alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Black Friday?

The day after Thanksgiving, so the fourth Friday of November in the United States. Many countries that do not celebrate Thanksgiving now keep the shopping day anyway, and shops often stretch it into a whole week of offers.

Is Cyber Monday the same thing?

No. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Black Friday and began as the online counterpart, when people returned to work and shopped from their desks. The distinction has blurred now that almost everything is bought online.

How do I talk about prices and discounts in English?

Use the fixed phrases: it is on sale, it is half price, it was reduced from forty to twenty, I got it for a tenner, that is a bargain, that is a rip-off. These come up in any conversation about shopping, not only in November.