Carbon copy

A carbon copy is the under-copy of a document created when carbon paper is placed between the original and the under-copy during the production of a document. With the advent of email, the abbreviation cc or bcc (blind carbon copy) has also come to refer to simultaneously sending copies of an electronic message to secondary recipients.

Use

A sheet of carbon paper is placed between two sheets of paper and the pressure applied by the writing implement (pen, pencil, typewriter or impact printer) to the top sheet causes pigment from the carbon paper to make a similar mark on the copy. More than one copy can be made by stacking several sheets with carbon paper between each pair. Four or five copies is a practical limit. The top sheet is the original and each of the additional sheets is called a carbon copy, from the use of the carbon paper.

The use of carbon copies declined with the advent of photocopying and electronic document creation and distribution (word processing). Carbon copies are still used in special applications, for example, in manual receipt books which have a multiple-use sheet of carbon paper supplied, in order 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.

Carbon copy (disambiguation)

Carbon Copy may refer to:

Carbon Copy (film)

Carbon Copy is a 1981 British-American comedy film, directed by Michael Schultz. The film stars George Segal, Susan Saint James, Jack Warden, and features Denzel Washington in his feature-film debut.

This movie is the first feature film produced by RKO Pictures after a break of many years, though they were only co-distributor with Avco/Embassy Pictures and Hemdale Film Corporation.

Plot

Roger Porter (Washington) is the long-lost black son of Walter Whitney (Segal), a respectable businessman who lives in the all-white community of San Marino, California. Walter, who is Jewish, has been hiding that fact for purposes of professional advancement in the business which his anti-Semitic father-in-law (Warden) heads.

Once Roger turns up at Walter's office, it turns out that he is the result of Walter's relationship with a black woman, who is now dead. Walter's father-in-law had warned him that the relationship would be harmful to his career, so he broke it off.

Walter attempts to help Roger by telling his wife Vivian (Saint James) that he wants to adopt him. She accepts, but soon regrets the decision and ends up kicking Walter out. Her father also fires him, taking his car and benefits in the process. Penniless, he and Roger check into a motel, and later move into an apartment. Walter ends up as a menial manual laborer, shovelling horse manure.