Carbon Copy

One a DAY for all of MAY

I've come to realize that people don't seem to know that the "CC" feature of sending emails harkens back and stands for "Carbon copy." Are we really utilizing this outdated technology and terminology to refer to our current system of duplication? Just think about it:

Carbon. Copy.

This is the technology that was available in the early 1990s to procure a reliable imprint on someone's credit card. You certainly didn't swipe this piece of plastic through a little machine at the register. No, you handed your card to the person checking you out, they whipped out a clunky rectangular shaped device that was underneath the register, inserted your card into its designated spot, and with a quick and simple, back and forth "cha-chunk," the necessary information was imprinted into a strip of carbon paper. Is this primitive technology really what we are going to compare with our modern version of CC'ing someone when we send non-physical data across the universe via cyber space?

It's kin to referring to the power of our automobiles as "horse power." Why don't we just throw it all back and refer to our cell phones as "sea shells", our web sites as "papyrus" or "vellum", and our grocery stores as "Trader Joes"?