Thankful to have a job, a healthy and loving family, and good friends. Wishing a fine Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it and … everyone else
Back at ya, Big Man!
Thanks Dale. Y’all have a good 'un! And everyone else, for that matter.
(That’s for you lot over there - no celebrations here, of course.)
… on a related matter, just this year, for the first time, I’ve seen the term “Black Friday” used over here to promote sales. I had to Google it. I don’t quite get why it’s being used over here. No-one will understand what it means … 
Store’s accounts are finally in the black. England was the kick off site for the first thanksgiving of course which was right here in Virginia.
According to what I’ve read, that wasn’t the first meaning of Black Friday, which was something like a referecne to the fact that it was hell because of the number of people out shopping. Or something …
… but I know nothing. No, really. Nothing.
That is the lore I too have for the origination of the term. If Wikipedia may be believed:
“The day’s name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1966 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are “in the black”.”
I don’t recall when it came into widespread use in my whereabouts, but I recall thinking that it was a good term for the national ordeal. This much is true: neither shoppers, nor the exhausted people who directly serve them, nor the police, nor the media, nor anyone else down in the trenches, really use the term with any sense of relief and joy for the sake of, or in solidarity with, retailers and their pockets; it is used in irony and some dread, and it makes sense that it would have originated in those sectors simply to describe the human spectacle which, I might add, is not an overwhelmingly happy one; it is sheer crush, unembarrassed avidity, and workload. That books are supposedly finally in the black is merely a rather dry semantic extension that also happens to fit, so of course mention of that is made too. I personally accept the story that the profit explanation theory was the result of those at the top of their pyramids objecting later in the game to such a negative term - understandably - but fortune provided in the words “Black Friday” a rationalisation to suit them, because the name wasn’t going away. Many such a stretch has gotten someone thru the night.
Even if the “in the black” story were in fact the original, to my mind the popular sense trumps it: it’s the juicier, it’s cultural, and it tells a tale of greater interest than ledgers. And, no. I won’t be shopping tomorrow unless it’s a frickin’ emergency.
And a very Happy Thanksgiving to all from Casa de Guru!
Thought it was because because so many people liked Rebbecca Black’s song that they named the Friday after Thanksgiving after her.
I think those of us who know know it is named after Mary Black. Which one I ain’t sure.
I must say, Ben, your accent is perfect.
Yes, happy morning after Thanksgiving, Dale and all.
I am happy to have most of the crew around and about, even briefly. The dog likes it too. A nice thing is, when they go, most of the stuff they dumped all over the kitchen goes with them.
Wha, thangee, pardnurrr!
Yeah. Ok. You should have quit while you were ahead, there, uh, pardner.
I say. The old chap’s got 'imself in a bit of a sticky wicket, eh wot?
On a sticky wicket. On.
Ha!
I am now thankful that I do not have to fly on an airplane within the US on a regular basis.
Just a taste of your own medicine. Guv. 
I know. I just thought you’d get closer … S’pose it shows just how far away I was. 
Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve ever heard “ON a sticky wicket”; IIRC, it’s always been “in”. OTOH, I’ve not heard it frequently, and only in the case of US movie lines or common Merkinfolk trying to imitate their idea of Britspeak. I think it may have to do with the automatic contextual translation of “sticky wicket” to “negative situation”, which must be fairly correct so far as it goes. But: one can only be IN a situation, and apparently this is the root of the mistake, for according to you a wicket, adhesive or not, must be less abstract than my Yank mind would perceive it.
So explain what this storied sticky wicket is and why one would be on, rather than in, it.
A ‘wicket’ is the part of a cricket pitch where the batsman stands, just in front of the stumps. A batsman would like it to be even, with no unexpected bumps, and firm but not rock hard. Essentially, the batsman would like the wicket to produce a predictable bounce when the cricket ball bounces just in front of him. If the ground is too soft - making it sticky - there is a fair chance that the ball won’t bounce much at all, and will as a result be very difficult to hit. It will have a tendency to skim along the ground under the bat and go stright through to the stumps.
It is not possible to be ‘in’ a sticky wicket. Well, not whilst alive.