Braintrust: Calling/Business Card Editing

[marcmagus]

As probably many of you know, I got a bunch of cards made up at VistaPrint a number of years ago through their 250 for "free" (something like $6 S&H) if you use one of their small selection of preset designs (which change) and allow them to print a reasonably subtle ad on the back of the card. The idea was to have something I could hand out at

Comments

[marcmagus]

The calling in calling card has nothing to do with telephones, actually (although I wonder if the word call for telephones derives from the call of paying a social visit which calling cards refer to). They were cards used when making a social call (as in showing up) to someone's residence. Depending on time and details, either handed to a servant to carry up to announce your arrival and identity (and request to be invited in for a short visit), or left on a tray in their foyer to indicate that you had come round for some socially acceptable reason (thanks for the ball last night, condolences on your loss, interest in planning a social call later in the week...).

I always used "calling card" too, but I hadn't really done any research at all on what calling cards as such were typically used for. Now I'm thinking it's not the best term. (I'm also not sure if business cards evolved directly from calling cards or separately...)

I may just dodge the issue in the future and simply refer to it as "my card", which has a kind of elegant sound and should be generally understood correctly.