“Where Did The Term Black Friday Originate?” (NPR Morning Edition, Nov. 25, 2011)
Language guru Ben Zimmer has tracked down what he believes to be the source of the phrase. He writes that the term originated in the 1960s in Philadelphia. Traffic was so bad the day after Thanksgiving that police officers had to work 12-hour shifts. So they gave the day a negative — and memorable — name.
(Show page, audio, related Word Routes column)