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Comment by philipdlang | Hacker News Reader

Really interesting, but a correction should be noted: CC is for courtesy copy, not carbon copy

Citation required, my understanding is that CC predates emails and would designate those to whom carbon copies were to be sent.

It definitely predates emails. I'm 44 and I've always heard "carbon copy", never "courtesy copy".

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=cc http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/carbon-copy.html

Yes, carbon copy. I used them and still have some from ancient correspondence. I think "Courtesy Copy" was an attempt to update the acronym which is amusing and much in line with folks wanting to update icons. Not necessarily a bad thing, just kind of fun to know about.

Ah, I did not know that!

Interesting, I did a little looking and it seems it means both. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc733 indicates carbon for BCC. It may be a backronym as Wikipedia mentions.

Ironic that you refer to an RFC. CC was used in correspondence long before internets and RFCs (as was BCC). It meant "carbon copy" just as you said originally. This is a bit like updating an icon. The icon (actually acronym) was left unchanged and someone thought to call it "courtesy copy" because they must have thought carbon copies obsolete and confusing. Actually, I don't know the genesis of the term "courtesy copy", but I'm pretty sure it was an update.

Sorry this whole rambling note is further evidence that old people (and their icons) don't make sense anymore.

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