Posted on 01/31/2025 8:23:16 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The evolution of technology is unrelentingly swift. Generations have witnessed state-of-the-art inventions become obsolete in the blink of an eye. The fax machine, the pager, and the landline, all once revolutionary, have earned their place in the annals of history. Yet email — born in 1971 when engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the very first “ping” — has remarkably endured. This persistent form of communication continues to redefine itself for the digital age, but one enigmatic email feature hasn’t changed for over 50 years: the “cc.”
The “cc” field is a familiar sight perched within the recipient line of an email. The purpose is to send a copy of the message to an additional recipient who might need the information, but isn’t integral to the action of the message. Its modern definition traces back to its original usage in the late 19th century, when a duplicate was called a “carbon copy.”
Around the 1870s, long before photocopiers, documents were painstakingly duplicated by hand using carbon paper between two sheets of plain paper. Something written or typed on the top page would be transferred to the bottom piece of paper through the pressure on the carbon (essentially ink). The exact replica was called a “carbon copy.” By the 1920s, the term “carbon copy” had shifted to figuratively describe something that was a near-identical replica, such as “Mark was a carbon copy of his father.” This usage made its way into corporate America in the 1930s, when it was used in business as shorthand to ensure that multiple parties received the same information.
When email emerged in the 1970s, “cc” was quickly adapted, as the jargon was already familiar in professional circles. The concept of the “bcc” (blind carbon copy) soon followed, allowing a sender to conceal recipients entered in the “bcc” field. In the 1980s, the use of “cc” became so prevalent that it evolved into a verb, as in, “I cc’d Amy on that message.”
Even as digital technology seems to be on the cusp of the next big thing,”cc” is here to stay. The anachronism has survived 150 years, evolving from an industrial-era hand-copying tool into an indispensable feature of email etiquette, cementing its place in communication with one simple click.
Blind CC is the weapon of choice in many organizations.
God bless CC and its vanilla suburbs.
Phones don’t have “dials” anymore either.
The floppy disk icon for save is a similar thing from the past.
Wonder how many in Gen Z knows what the icon means.
We don’t need “cc” to evolve into the modern era. Leave it and bcc alone.
We could probably sit down and come up with many linguistic anachronisms in common use today.
As long as people know what they mean, what difference does it make? Language evolves out of language.
To me cc spells out for information only. If you’re cc’d you aren’t being asked to do anything, just be aware of the contents.
I’m so old, I actually used “carbon paper” to make paper copies! And I was using “cc” back then, too. Making “carbon copies” on a manual typewriter (which I learned on in high school) was tough because you had to strike the keys a bit harder than normal which slowed down your typing.
But my correspondence recipients were perplexed when they saw “bcc” at the bottom of my letters. “What’s this ‘bcc’?” they would ask.
Wire me when all y’all get it figured out...
Seems ‘CC’ has evolved from “carbon copy” to “courtesy copy” once emails became standard practice.
Everyone knows what it is so why change it?
We used carbon copies. A paper of carbon between two pieces of paper. We did that a lot in the 60’s and 70’s. It was dying out in the 80’s. But every office had a box of carbon paper in the early 80’s. I can’t remember when the typewriter was thrown out. I think it lasted in our office until 2000. It was good for tricky envelopes and forms.
Blind CC is valuable today, because you want to send out a newsletter or something. And you don’t want to publish everyones email address. U know blind cc can be used by sneaks. but those same sneaks can just send a second email as well. So you should always be aware of that.
i “bcc’ myself on important correspondence to have a copy to move to the Subject file, still with a copy under “Sent.’ works well.
It still being used in the 70's.
CC tells the other recipients that no action is required on their part, it’s just FYI...
Same reason the save button looks like a 3.5 floppy.
-PJ
I wonder how many folks here will get that one? I did
Did you number your card deck before you dropped the box?
Watfor?
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