According to Sam and Jim Commenting on things that irk us off, make us laugh out loud or just seem too weird too believe According to Sam and Jim: What's Black & Not Friday?

Friday, November 25, 2011

What's Black & Not Friday?

Okay. Thanksgiving’s over. Today is Black Friday – so called because American retailers hope you and I will flock through their doors and spend some serious cash to put them in back in the black. Speaking about Black Friday brings to mind other black trivia you might find interesting.

One of the biggest black events ever has to have been the Black Death or The Plague or Bubonic Plague as it also was affectionately known. It decimated Europe in the middle ages, peaking between 1348 and 1350 and is estimated to have killed 30–60 percent of Europe's population and reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million.

A new movie called Black Death is coming to a theater near you on June 11, 2012 too. Starring Sean Bean, Eddie Redmanye and Carice Van Houten, it’s about tracking down a necromancer or a person who brings people back from the dead during the time of the Plague. Watch it at your own peril.

Then you have the Black Watch, the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland The regiment's name allegedly came from the dark tartan that they wore and from their role to "watch" the Highlands The regiment adopted the royal motto of Scotland's Stewart monarchs, "Nemo me impune lacessit" (no-one provokes me with impunity). I like that! The regiment’s traditional colors were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II.

The word ‘Black’ can be traced back to its Indo-European origins through ‘bhleg’, according to the blog Language Study @ Suite 101. The word ‘bhleg, meant‘to burn with black smoke’ or ‘to burn black with smoke’. ‘Bhleg’ was incorporated into Old High German as ‘blah’ (black), Low Franconian as ‘black’ (ink) and Old Norse as ‘blakkr’ (dark, dusky).

Is this stuff interesting or what? Don’t tell Sam and I that our blog is boring. Hah!

How about Black Magic? According to Wikipedia, Black Magic is the type of magic that "draws on assumed malevolent powers and/or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its uses. This can refer to powerful curses meant to bring the strongest effect, spells to sever emotional ties to objects or people, and so on."

And of course you’ve heard the saying, "Black as the Ace of Spades." In a deck of cards, the Ace of spades, when the apex or point of the spade points up, means a conclusion, an ending. Considered the Death Card, the ace of spades reportedly means the death of circumstances, not people.

Then you have the Black American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). This is a large bird from the family Corvidae common throughout much of North America. Black American Crows are widespread and highly adaptable, but also susceptible to the West Nile Virus.

Oh, and we mustn’t forget the Black Crowes music group. They’re cool.

Thanks for playing this version of Sam and Jim Jeopardy with us. If you ate a bag of Black Crows licorice drops while reading this blog you ate what is now called nostalgia candy and probably enjoyed the blog a lot.. Or not.

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