holleewoodworld:

I’ve written about 50 billion emails since I got my first AOL account back in 1994, and I’ve never once used the blind carbon copy (bcc) line.

Have you?

I’m big on the Cc line. But Bcc? Not so much.

For some reason, the Bcc line — a nifty little tool that lets you send an email to one person while simultaneously secretly copying another person — has always seemed a little backhanded and sneaky to me, and I’ve never quite figured out what all of the fuss was about. What could I possibly have to say to someone in an email that was so incredibly earth shattering that I would need to send a secret carbon copy to another person?

And more inportantly… What if I got caught?

Then I remembered.

When I was in 8th grade and I had a crush on a cute boy, the big thing to do was call up one of my friends who was lucky enough to have three-way calling.

(Go ahead. LYAO. But it was 1983 people! Just having more than one phone in the house was still a novelty!)

Anyway. Let’s say the person I called was my best friend Mindy.

Because it usually was.

What Mindy would do was this: While I was still on one of line of her phone, she’d click over to her other line and ring up the cute boy.

Let’s say his name was Brian.

Because it usually was.

Brian with the awesome feathered hair. And dark tight jeans. With a comb in the back pocket. That might have said “Dyno-Mite!” on it.

Did I mention he was an awesome roller skater?

Seriously. Stop freaking laughing.

So while Brian’s phone was ringing, Mindy would click back over to me. That way, when an unsuspecting Brian answered the phone and Mindy started expertly quizzing him about who he liked, I could listen in on their entire conversation, while maniacally twirling the cord of my candy apple red princess phone in the privacy of my own matching candy apple red, white and blue star spangled bedroom. With Air Supply’s “All Out of Love” playing in the background.

You SO did this too, didn’t you?

When it worked out the way you wanted to, three-way calling was just the best, most incredible, most amazing invention in the world.

But when it didn’t… when, say, Cute Brian told BFF Mindy that the girl he liked was actually your other friend Hope, who also had awesome feathered hair and a comb in her back pocket…

Well then you sort of wanted to choke yourself with that princess phone cord.

Or at least choke your friend Hope with it.

Couldn’t do that with a Bcc line.

So is this really progress… or not?