27 November 2015 - Thanksgiving and Black Friday
Activer le mode zenHiroko Tabuchi and Nelson D. Schwartz (The New York Times, 25/11/2015)
In 1939, the nation’s largest retailers sent Franklin D. Roosevelt an urgent plea. Thanksgiving fell on the last day of November that year, giving merchants too few days before Christmas to unleash the season’s sales.
The holiday might be a time-honored tradition, but wouldn’t Mr. Roosevelt consider moving the day up by a week?
The president’s acquiescence to retailers helped cement the pre-eminence of the post-Thanksgiving sales rush, now known as Black Friday. The day became an annual ritual, a family affair — a shopping orgy that delivered big profits for retailers, as well as a lift to the entire economy.
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Black Friday in the UK
Dan Bilefsky (The New York Times, 26/11/2015)
That is because, for a nation that prides itself on its decorous behavior, last year was ugly. Or, what in America is called a typical Black Friday.
At one flagship Asda store in northwest London, part of a retail chain owned by Walmart, one young woman was seen on the floor, desperately clinging to a 40-inch discounted television as several teenagers tried to grab it away.
Pardoning turkeys
Simon Denyer (The Washington Post, 26/11/2015)
When President Obama pardoned two turkeys named Honest and Abe this Thanksgiving, most Americans understood the reference to President Abraham Lincoln.
But in China, a translation mix-up saw the second turkey’s name rendered not as the one-syllable “Abe” but with two characters, pronounced “ah-bay,” the same as those used in the name of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
That led to some merriment here, with Netizens wondering if Obama had in fact compared his Japanese counterpart and ally to a bird.
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Obama's Thanksgiving message
Roberta Rampton (The Huffington Post, 26/11/2015)
President Barack Obama urged Americans to show generosity to Syrian refugees in his Thanksgiving message on Thursday, reminding them that the Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were themselves fleeing persecution.
"Nearly four centuries after the Mayflower set sail, the world is still full of pilgrims – men and women who want nothing more than the chance for a safer, better future for themselves and their families," Obama said in his address.
Obama's plan to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria became a lightning rod for political criticism after attacks, claimed by Islamic State militants, killed 130 people in Paris two weeks ago. The United States is leading an international coalition fighting the group in Syria and Iraq.
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27 November 2015 - Thanksgiving and Black Friday, La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), novembre 2015. Consulté le 01/02/2025. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/key-story/archives-revue-de-presse-2015/27-november-2015-thanksgiving-and-black-friday