It says something about the competitive-shopping mentality that takes hold on Black Friday that, this holiday weekend, I’ve received the well-wishing sentiment of “Safe Shopping” from a couple of friends/acquaintances.

“Safe Shopping”? You mean, look out for pickpockets and other opportunistic thieves, who traditionally prey on preoccupied holiday shoppers at this time of year. Or don’t key in any credit card numbers on iffy-looking, fly-by-night shopping websites.

Not quite. Rather, it’s a cautionary warning that references how crazed your fellow bargain-hunters get when they storm the stores, out to grab those prized doorbuster deals and limited-supply deep-discount items, and don’t consider physical jostling and shoving to be out-of-bounds behavior in such a cutthroat milieu. In other words, you need to be safe against other patrons — as though you’re entering a lawless terrain instead of tightly-controlled retail zones.

Maybe there’s something to that. After all, this Black Friday-tapped weekend has seen a few fistfights and an out-of-control fire in the Christmas tree section at Wal-Mart. The big-box retailer epitomizes this culture of the big-game bargain hunt, so it makes sense that you’d take your life in your hands when venturing forth there.

Somehow, discretionary gift-buying has been redefined as survival of the fittest, thus necessitating a “safe shopping” wish for self and friends. It’s daft. I guess it’s to be expected from a population that, generally, doesn’t have to contend with true life-endangering situations like war, famine and such. Our relative dearth of dangers impels us to invent hazard zones, all the better to induce manufactured shop-’til-you-drop adrenaline rushes.

For the record, I haven’t done a lick of holiday shopping during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday pivot, neither online nor at brick-and-mortar sites. Plenty of time to do that over the next month. Obviously, my thrill-seeking yen isn’t linked to my credit card.