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.
Did you also use a mimeograph? Pretty sure that smell gave the whole school a buzz.
Back in the 1990s, I worked for a very large company, and they were just rolling-out email for the entire company.
Some random corporate announcement or email within some office in Malaysia or Brazil, would be responded to with a "reply all," send the message to every corporate email. Arguments would then erupt saying with some saying "don't use reply all!" - as they replied to everyone in the company.... I found it hilarious. It ended after about a year and a round of IT training for each employee.
Or use scotch tape. Or wipe your nose on kleenex.
Gear icon for settings ?
Did you also use a mimeograph? Pretty sure that smell gave the whole school a buzz.
Especially at Ridgemont High...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu3iCvAQCHg
I once had a boss that was so dumb he would “Reply to All” when he was blind copied to an email, essentially outing the original sender when the purpose of the bcc was to keep him the boss in the loop CONFIDENTIALLY. DEI guy of course.
Unfortunately using group texts gets the same bad result.
Was White Out really invented by a Monkee’s mother, or is that just internet lore?
If you use graphics programs, they use an eraser icon.
Some also use a pencil icon.
At one employer, Finance used VisiCalc for budgeting. One year things looked bad so we were directed to cut departmental budgets by 15% across the board. The Optics manager took a floppy, trimmed a pie shaped piece from it and handed it in.
“I was ecstatic when computers became common.”
For quite a few years, the company I worked at had a “typing pool” with an army of young women who would type out your longhand written documents. They were the first adopters of “word processors” where the document was stored on magnetic tape. That was a Godsend where you could then markup copy, send it back to the “typing pool,” and get a revised version back quickly.
When I was doing my MBA 1979-1982, I hired one of the young women to type my papers for me and use the company word processor.
My fiancé went to work at Apple around 1980 and we quickly had all the Apple toys including Apple ][, Apple 3, the first Mac, AND a LaserWriter with PostScript (which was unbelievably expensive at first — retailed for like $5,000 in 1984).
Chuck Schumer’s office upsets Democratic aide with inaugural email exposing info to MAGA faithful by not using ‘BCC’
NY Post ^ | 1/23/25 | Ian Mohr, Lois Weiss
Posted on 1/24/2025, 9:10:27 AM by Libloather
An aide to New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams apparently wasn’t too happy their email was inadvertently exposed to a bunch of Trump supporters after a faux pas by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office.
On Friday, President Trump announced the inauguration would be held indoors, creating a last-minute venue shakeup.
That’s when Schumer’s office got an email out to his inauguration list, advising attendees that since the event was to be moved, their invites could not be used to access the new indoor venue. But the tickets could make nice souvenirs should they still want to pick them up in person at the Hart Senate Office Building or have them mailed.
However, the email from Schumer’s office to the hundreds of guests on his ticket list might’ve been sent out a bit too fast — and the aide who fired off the message apparently did not use the “BCC” (blind carbon copy) option, showing everyone’s email on the list.
We hear that within moments, Trump supporters quickly began “replying all” — and the comments continued all weekend, with some suggesting someone would be getting axed for the mixup, and another replying it would be Schumer who gets voted out.
The email chain went so far afield that some were even trying to land dates from the list, and one mom offered up her two daughters to a man who asked if “anyone was a Jewish 20- or 30-something,” and “better if they like pickleball.”
By Wednesday afternoon, after dozens of “Reply All” messages flew, an aide for Adams had had enough and wrote a stern note to Schumer’s office, asking, “Please tell me why am I on a group email? Is there any reason why this mail was not BCC? Now you are exposing individuals’ mailing addresses in...”
(Excerpt) Read more at https://pagesix.com/2025/01/23/gossip/chuck-schumers-office-ticks-off-dems-with-inaugural-email/?_gl=1*198ujcf*_ga*NDE5MTk2NDUyLjE3Mzc3MjQ0MDE.*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*MTczNzczMDA1Mi4yLjEuMTczNzczMDc4Mi41Ni4wLjA. ...
Add Jacuzzi to the list.
If I copied one person on an email, I wrote c:John Doe. If I copied more than one person I used cc: John Doe, Jane Roe. I was also taught to be sure to copy everyone that I named in the body of the message.
1 - I'm going to call my wife.
2 - Hey, Siri, call Ruth
3 - Key in this number...
I see no need to describe the physical act of directing the call.
“I was also taught to be sure to copy everyone that I named in the body of the message.”
And that’s good etiquette here on FR to this day.
Desktop: the screen where a computer’s graphic user interface defaults to after startup
I don’t “film” with my phone either. That is “record” or “video”. I do “film” with my old Pentax, still.
BCC = passive aggressive.
Very useful things become standards, and standards often survive changes in related things.
I think if “cc” had not been started as it was, it was bound to be started along the way.
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