News - Black Friday deals to hit the U.K. - 60% off some items!

60% off an Xbox, guess there's no reason to not buy one now. Looks like I'm sold.

However, it's relative to the stock they have at their warehouses. So looks like we'll all be staying up until midnight :P

Quote:

---

Over 70% off Pearl Necklaces

---

Lol :D

You'd expect Best Buy UK to follow Amazon on this. They may be in the UK, but they have a very US way of doing things.

It'll be interesting to watch how this turns out.

My first reaction is x% off what? No doubt, off RRP. If so, that'd still make for some very good deals, at the Wii (for example) normally sells at (today) 22% off RRP. So good deal, yes, but not quite as good as it might first appear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dshepsman

"Offers on Amazon.co.uk will take the form of ‘Lightning Deals’ with a limited quantity of an item being offered at a discount for a short period of time"

so, i guess there will be a total of 5 xbox 360s for £100, lasting for 2 mins....

---

And that was my second reaction.

But if this proves (and it may well do) to be any more than selling tiny quantities as loss leaders, perhaps to try to get people's attention for the famous odd 'bait n switch', then perhaps what it really signals is an expectation that after Christmas, when austerity measures start to kick in and VAT goes up, that they know people are going to be spending less money so that want their share of it maximised now.

And the really interesting thing is that if that is the case, other major retailers are not going to want to let Amazon have entirely their own way with this, so it bodes well for a pre-Christmas price war. Keep your eyes open, guys and gals, and be prepared to act quickly, and probably not just on Amazon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Saracen

the Wii (for example) normally sells at (today) 22% of RRP.

---

Sorry to be a pedant, but I presume you mean 22% off RRP, not 22% of RRP, the two are very different.

all night shopping for me then!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Biscuit

all night shopping for me then!

---

Beats my usual nightly routine...

Waaaaaaaaaaaaa, I wanna cheap Kindle :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by squirrelz

Sorry to be a pedant, but I presume you mean 22% off RRP, not 22% of RRP, the two are very different.

---

Yes, I did mean that. I'd have thought that was pretty clear from having used that term twice in the preceding line. I've edited it, though, for the pedantic among us.

A word of caution, though. If you pick people round here up on obvious typos, be prepared to be dumped on from a very great height every time you make the slightest mistake yourself. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me, but we've seen it before and it usually doesn't end well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Saracen

A word of caution, though. If you pick people round here up on obvious typos, be prepared to be dumped on from a very great height every time you make the slightest mistake yourself. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't bother me, but we've seen it before and it usually doesn't end well.

---

It's even more fun when Americans try to correct 'typos'. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aidanjt

It's even more fun when Americans try to correct 'typos'. :D

---

Ah yes, check the category of "American Cultural Superiority" in this excellent guide to Wikipedia's lamest edit wars:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.ne...est-edit-wars/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aidanjt

It's even more fun when Americans try to correct 'typos'. :D

---

Because their language is truer to historical English than ours is?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalniel

Because their language is truer to historical English than ours is?

---

Oh, I'd say not. Ever read any classic literature, from the Middle Ages? Chaucer, for example, let alone Beowulf? And I mean in the original idiom, not modern translations.

I'd go so far as to say that the vast majority of 'modern' Brits (or Americans) would regard historical English, even only going back as far as Chaucer, as a completely foreign language. In comparison, the variations between British English and American English are very minor, really limited to little more than differences in dialect, and some minor spelling and vocabulary differences, such as you'd find between London and Yorkshire, let alone London and Cornwall, or Cornwall and Glasgow.

But it begs the question .... exactly what is "historical English"? Is it the Germanic forms of 'Anglish', as spoken by Anglo-Saxons. Is it the Brythonic English which, in truth, bears more resemblance to modern Celtic dialects than it does to modern English? What about the influence of the Normans, or the Roman invasion?

If you look at the differences between American English and modern British, they're almost inconsequential compared to the way "English" has evolved over that portion of our history before we even knew of the existence of the Americas.

In fact, going back to my regional variations, I'd say the American English 'dialect' and the modern Southern English variants were probably closer than London and Glasgow .... or for that matter, New York and deepest Alabama. Once you get past the Americans not being able to get what a pavement is or chips are, or not being able to spell colour or centre, the differences are actually very small indeed.



Note - for any of our colonial cousins reading this, more than a hint of this post is very tongue-in-cheek ..... just in case you don't get our humour (sorry, humor) either. ;) :D

Sony TVs down by 50%? Can't wait!!