Use as a verb Ĭarbon copy can be used as a transitive verb with the meaning described under e-mail below related to the CC field of an e-mail message. The term "carbon copy" can denote anything that is a near duplicate of an original (".and you want to turn him into a carbon copy of every fourth-rate conformist in this frightened land!" Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land). Sometimes this "cc" is interpreted as "courtesy copy". This etymology can also explain why, even originally, "cc:" was used to list recipients who received typed copies and not necessarily carbon copies. This alternative etymology explains the frequent usage of "c:" when only one recipient is listed, while "cc:" is used for two or more recipients of the copies. It is still common for a business letter to include, at the end, a list of names preceded by the abbreviation "CC", indicating that the named persons are to receive copies of the letter, even though carbon paper is no longer used to make the copies.Īn alternative etymology is that "c:" was used for copy and "cc:" indicates the plural, just as "p." means page and "pp." means pages. Carbon copies are still sometimes used in special applications: for example, in manual receipt books which have a multiple-use sheet of carbon paper supplied, so that the user can keep an exact copy of each receipt issued, although even here carbonless copy paper is often used to the same effect. The use of carbon copies declined with the advent of photocopying and electronic document creation and distribution (word processing). Carbon copies were in wide use between the 1870s and 1980s, largely for administrative tasks. While carbon paper was invented by Pellegrino Turri in 1801, it was not widely used for copying until typewriters became common. History As creating carbon copies requires relatively few resources, it became a common method for producing underground and clandestine newspapers, as seen in this French example from World War II. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy. Four or five copies is a practical limit. More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. The pressure applied by the writing implement (pen, pencil, typewriter or impact printer) to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to reproduce the similar mark on the copy sheet(s). With the advent of word processors and e-mail, "cc" is used as a merely formal indication of the distribution of letters to secondary recipients.Ī sheet of carbon paper is placed between two or more sheets of paper. When copies of business letters were so produced, it was customary to use the acronym "CC" or "cc" before a colon and below the writer's signature to inform the principal recipient that carbon copies had been made and distributed to the parties listed after the colon.
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