Black Friday: Batteries not included

Halloween has passed and the arrival of Thanksgiving signals more than just turkey and stuffing.

Every deal-hunting consumer knows the day after Thanksgiving as "Black Friday" - as a day when stores open at ludicrously early hours and mark item prices down so much they practically give them away.

Black Friday traces its roots to the 19th century, when it was used to describe the 1869 financial panic. The term gained its most recent meaning in the 20th century, when it began to be used to describe the chaos of the day after Thanksgiving - the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

The modern term was coined in Philadelphia by police officers. A 1966 article by Bonnie Taylor-Blake of the American Dialectic Society is the earliest reference found of Black Friday.

"Black Friday" is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day," she wrote. "It is not a term of endearment to them. 'Black Friday' officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing."

Today, many cities throughout the U.S. experience the type of chaos Taylor-Blake describes. Black Friday's publicity and increased media exposure has only made it more chaotic in recent years.

In fact, in 2008, a Walmart worker was trampled to death by a stampede of shoppers when the store opened the morning of Black Friday. Fortunately, Black Friday induced deaths are more the exception than the rule.

Still, most regular Black Friday shoppers do have some sort of story to tell. Whether it is parents humorously playing tug-of-war with the last Tickle Me Elmo or two girls shooting each other at Toys "R" Us during the shopping mob frenzy which happened in Palm Desert, C.A., last year. No Black Friday story seems too over the top.

Aside from all the Black Friday eccentricities, what can we expect Black Friday to look like this year?

The majority of retailers participating in the holiday sales open their doors at 5 a.m. or earlier. Every veteran Black Friday shopper knows not to wait until the wee hours of the morning to get a place in line though. Eager deal-hunters regularly make camp outside of stores beginning Thanksgiving evening, anxiously waiting for the clock to roll through the hours and the store doors to swing open.

To inform shoppers of the sort of sales that will be offered, companies release special Black Friday ads, listing their hottest sale items of the season.

The Web site www.blackfriday.info calls itself "the official site for all of the 2009 Black Friday ads." Sears, Toys "R" Us and OfficeMax have already released their ads for this shopping season and are posted on Blackfriday.info's Web site, so shoppers can weigh their options on which store is their best bet for camping outside of for the night.

With so many options and so little time, remember to shop wisely and stay safe this Black Friday.