Iowa, This Is The Actual Meaning Of ‘cc’ On Your Email

Let's learn something today, shall we?

One of the realest ways to be passive-aggressive in corporate culture is to 'cc' someone on an email. If they replied to an email and cc'd your boss, they're probably a narc who can't be trusted. You can also be clued into gossip with being cc'd or bcc'd, especially if it's your work bestie on the cc.

The cc's and bcc's are a part of most of our emails nowadays but what do they even mean?

The History Of 'cc'

Back in the days before the interwebs (good ones, weren't they?), we used to fill out documents that had 3 layers. There was the top layer that was the primary one that went to whoever needed it then there was the pink or yellow one under it.

You kept the pink copy and that was known as the carbon copy. Because that's what it was. It was your copy of the document.

As SparkMail says, 'cc' in an email stands for carbon copy since it's like an extra copy of the email for the person cc'd. It's like adding an extra sheet of paper under the form for someone else.

Meanwhile, 'bcc' stands for blind carbon copy. But the fun part with bcc is that the recipient can't see what email addresses have been bcc'd in the email though they're receiving it too.

The most corporate way to describe cc's and bcc's is "keeping you in the loop". Sometimes you'll be cc'd on emails that have literally nothing to do with you. You can still get carbon copy paper by the way, it's just pretty pricey from what I've found on the internet.