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Today is Black Friday in the USofA.
Black Mondays have both been economically bad. The first was Monday, 28 October 1929 when the New York stock market crashed. The second was Monday, 19 October 1987, when the same market crashed again.
In contrast, Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving -- is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and sometimes marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It is called black not becuase it signals something economically bad but because, on this day, some businesses are said to move out of the red and into the black in terms of profitability.
Some of us observe Black Friday as Buy Nothing Day in reaction to the excessive and conspicuous consumption celebrated otherwise.
How odd that "black" should mean bad in connection with Mondays and good in connection with Friday.
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Black Monday = bad
Black Friday = good
Not so surprising, really, when you think about it. Did you ever hear someone say "Thank God it's Monday!" ?
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Actually I say it every Monday morning during the school yer when the school bus appears at the other end of Fort Street.
TEd
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Yes, "in the black", one of the rare times "black" has a postive connotation in connection with anything, adjectively speaking.
See "black eye," "black mark," "black list," etc. for contrast.
Any other positive "black" semantics out there we may be missing?
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Quote:
Any other positive "black" semantics out there we may be missing?
It's NZ's national colour, and NZers will be feeling very chuffed with the boys in black after an expected win in Rugby Union, and a stunning surprise victory in Rugby League overnight. There are plenty of postive "black" phrases up here.
Last edited by sjmaxq; 11/26/2005 11:22 PM.
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It seems to me that humour noir or black humor is neither good nor bad, but different, juxtaposing elements which evoke laughter with elements which are grim, sad, somber, depressing, or pathetic.
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and Blackie is a nice name for a puppy.
formerly known as etaoin...
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At the risk of stealing Ron O's task (and since he seems preoccupied with google just now!) p'raps I should point out the fact that to many people of African heritage the phrase is intrinsically positive?
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And Boston Blackie, 'tho he started out a safecracker and a jewel thief, turned out to be a pretty nice fella in the end.
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>At the risk of stealing Ron O's task..
oh, I think I've mostly relinquished that task to the masses (all thirty-seven of you); but my work being done in that regard, what you've got left is mostly joe bfstplk, more's the pity.
-joe (bathetic) bfstplk
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p'raps I should point out the fact that to many people of African heritage the phrase is intrinsically positive?
Of course, mav...but that goes without saying. The "Black is Beautiful" slogan from the Sixties was an attempt to put a new perspective on the seemingly endless semantic negatives attached to the color, and add affirmation to blackness.
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> an attempt to put a new perspective on the seemingly endless semantic negatives attached to the color well, certainly for people without color  otoh, Anna Sewell would have been surprised to think of that as a novelty of the 60s...
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Quote:
> an attempt to put a new perspective on the seemingly endless semantic negatives attached to the color
well, certainly for people without color
Not exclusively so. The word "gori" in Hindi, which is the feminine form of the adjectiive meaning "fair, of pale complexion", is used to mean "fair maiden", "beautiful woman", etc. Not too long ago one (rather fair-skinned) Bollywood actress reacted to another (more melanin-enriched) starlet's growing fame by dismissing her as a "kaalaa billii", "black cat". Indian women spend megabucks on whitening creams, and, at least in Hindi cinema, actresses look dozens of shades lighter on screen than in "candid" shots.
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A similar phenomenon exists in Indonesia. Only the fairskinned will be described as "cantik" (beautiful). The best their darker sisters can hope for is "hitam manis" (literally, sweet and black, but used for anything from medium brown to jet black skin). Skin whiteners are also big business here.
Bingley
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newbie
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and a black dress looks good anytime, anywhere.
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"I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon." (AV)
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and what a weasel word is that but...
(tho' I am partial to a pert but of any colour)
;]
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Pooh-Bah
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See also in Wikipedia: Black Monday, Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday,etc
dalehileman
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Quote:
and what a weasel word is that but...
(tho' I am partial to a pert but of any colour)
;]
The NRSV, on the other hand, says:
I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=song+of+solomon+1
Is there a Hebrew scholar in the house?
Bingley
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stranger
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The NRSV, on the other hand, says:
I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Is there a Hebrew scholar in the house?
I certainly hope there IS a hebrew scholar, because I have wondered about that phrase myself.
But what about "black sheep of the family"? That seems to connote both a nonconformist attitude, and a resultant scapegoating or shunning by the family. Is this true to sheep life? Do sheep pick on a sheep of a different color? I'm fairly sure that black sheep are less common than white sheep - easier to dye the wool, for one thing.
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"Dark am I yet lovely ..." (New International Version)
"Dark [am] I, and comely ..." (Young's Literal Translation)
"I am black, but comely ..." (Jewish Publication Society)
"nigra sum sed formonsa ..." (Vulgate)
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heyyy..we even had a movie here by this name -'Black'....i dont know whether anybody here has heard of it or not. it was about a blind n deaf girl n her black, dark world. nice one.
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And, of course, much of the negation attached to blackness and darkness, etc. is Biblically derived (and p'raps other religious texts such as the Koran?). And the light shines in the darkness. Light is good. Dark is bad. However, what all that imagery is missing is that light and dark, white and black are *not mutually exclusive. One cannot exist without the other's contrast, at the very least. Without the dark there can be no light. Zen Buddhism allows for the mutuality of this. (and mebbe Hinudism to a degree?--I'm not sure) Butwhen darkness and blackness was ingrained,through thousands of years of religion, as something negative and evil, it became very difficult to throw off the perception of those stereotypes in the arena of ethnicity (the inhabitants of "Darkest Africa" had to be "savages" in the eyes of "good" Christians for centuries...and the dark-skinned Maya and Inca and North American "red man", Native Americans, were likewise "savages", too.) The light shines in the darkeness. But without the darkness there can be no light. (oops, could we be launching into another "Time" thread here?...so be it then... ) Father Steve?...
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Not really a Hebrew scholar, just an interested by-standing linguist. The Hebrew in question is: shchurah 'ani wna'wah.
shchurah, fem sg. adj. from sh.ch.r 'to be black' (related to the Syriaic and Akkandian words for 'coal')
'ani 'I'
w- 'and'
na'wah 'was comely' (may be from n.'.h 'to be comely, befitting'
=> "I [am] black and beautiful."
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Sorry, W'ON, but I'm having trouble buying your argument, since it doesn't explain how Hindu India, an ancient, pre-Christian (and therefore also pre-Islam) culture developped an attachment to fairness and pale skin as a sign of beauty and good. Not every evil in the world can be blamed on the Judaeo-Christaian monotheisms, y'know.
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Not every evil in the world can be blamed on the Judaeo-Christian monotheisms, y'know.
No...but that (the Judeo-Christian perception) has been a big portion of influence about the point of discussion for the past 2-3,000 years or so. A mere blip on the map of history, of course.
Do you, Max, or anyone, have any idea how that pre-Hindu perception of fairness as desirable and good in the region of the subcontinent developed?
Of course, classicly, in the agrarian societies the winter with its long, cold, unbountiful nights was seen as a menace to survive until the ensuing Spring...the beginning of the light/dark dichotomy, I suppose. Thus the many Pagan winter festivals to placate the darkness and shine the light as a gesture of strength.
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I am very much open to correction on this, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Aryan Indo-European speaking invaders, although darker-skinned than N. Europeans, were lighter-skinned than the original Dravidian inhabitants of India. Since the Aryans were now the ones with power, their physical characteristics became desirable.
Also, as a general principle, rich people don't spend time working in the fields and incidentally getting sunburnt, so if you want to look as if you're a rich high-status person lighter skin is an advantage.
See the next verse from our Biblical text:
5I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. 6Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept! (added in edit)
Last edited by Bingley; 12/01/2005 1:37 AM.
Bingley
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Bingley, fwiw, the "Aryan Invasion Theory" is a real hot-button issue today. It has been largely discredited, at least in its most commonly outlined version, the one you presented. That's the way I learned it, too, but the weight of scholarship now suggests that, like most history, it's bunk.
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So, what is the current consensus then (if there is one) on how the inhabitants of the more northerly parts of the subcontinent ended up speaking Indo-European languages?
Bingley
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Quote:
So, what is the current consensus then (if there is one) on how the inhabitants of the more northerly parts of the subcontinent ended up speaking Indo-European languages?
Wikipedia can be useful when it has good links. That article does.
Personally, I think it's slightly semantic. There is evidence of migration and intermingling. The problem is the whole AIT was dreamed up and overblown to serve particular socio-political ends at the time. ow, it's being most vehemently attacked by those pursuing other socio-political aims. Indeed, to me there is a certain irony in the fact that the core ideology of those now attacking theory (many of whom are extreme right-wing Hindu nationalists) is not dissimilar to that of those who first proposed it (also extreme right-wing nationalists). That's a whole nother kettle of fish, but.
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A gentleman from India became friends with my family as a result of a chance meeting in April of 1964 at the World's Fair in NYC.
He made several trips north to visit us. The first visit was in early Spring. The next visit was in late summer.
Between visits my pale Irish winter skin had gained a tan
and when I picked him up at the airport he said, sorrowfully : "Oh, you have lost your lovely color."
I had never thought of myself as having color!
It was an "Ahhhhhhhh Haaaaaaaaaa" moment.
Have never thought about my color the same way again.
It's all in the eye - and the mind ? - of the beolder !
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