20 Comments

It's probably more than a little ironic that just before I read this I was working on a large spreadsheet transferring information via ( let's say it together) copy/paste!

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In celebration of Larry Tessler:

“Our lead developer did a fantastic job. But can you guess what turned out to be the second-most-difficult feature to build from scratch? Sure enough: Cut, copy and paste.”

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“My work friends and I shared our briefs with each other, too.”

Talk about chances to cut and paste, this sentence stuck out like a sore thumb. Only attorneys could get away with saying that with a straight face too.

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A few months back, I was working with two members of my marketing team, a 40-something graphic artist and 30-something social media specialist. We were chatting about something nostalgic with graphics when I mentioned Exacto knife cutting and hot wax pasting. I was talking about my high school newspaper and its production from back in the 1960s, and laying out ads and graphics in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Neither knew the origin of the concept "copy and paste." An informal survey of other colleagues found none knew that "copy and paste" is a carry-over from physically copying and pasting.

To produce a "camera-ready" physical art board, the word copy was applied by using either Letraset (rub-on) or Zipatone (cut, adhere and burnish) individual letters or later, the Compugraphic (I believe that's the brand) typesetter. We also used an IBM proposational font electric typewriter with a carbon ribbon. The output was on a glossy paper or white film.

You would cut the paper as close to the font edge as possible, turn it upside down and roll a film of hot wax on the back ... or rubber cement, which was a lot more fun (but that's another story and lost amusement). Then using triagles and T-square, the content would be aligned onto the art board.

If there were a change, typo, or edit, you would take your Exacto knife with the sharp pointed blade, cut the offending material from the art board and pastethe new content into place. The rubber cement or wax made it easy to cuf the old material.

Thus, we were literally "cutting and pasting" content, the genesis of the words for the digital activity today.

A side note. A number of years ago, we printed some display boards (using computer graphics to create the artboard) for an event. Something changed at the last minute and the already printed boards needed to be altered. There was no time for reprints.

I was the only person on the communications team who knew how to literally cut the old copy and paste in the new copy so it didn't appear to be something pasted at the last minute. Some old skills never die.

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“Original Story” is an interesting reference. Reading the other comments about “cut, copy, paste, Eric Jay Toll mentions his experience of cut, copy, paste, before computers and “control V.” Is there is a truly original idea thought? Every modern convince we have, computers for example started in the mind of someone. “Pioneers” who for various reason knew something was out there (probably told by someone before) to be discovered. I’m sure there are pioneers that will never be remembered or acknowledged for their efforts or for planting the seed that grew into the tree that produced the apple, pun intended.

The Steve Job’s of the world get most the credit, and rightly so, but we all build and develop ideas on what others expressed in desires. Could something as simple: “I wish some would invent….” Then some one does.

I hope I did bid not digress to far off the “original story,” but it did create a thought I built on.

I am thankful for the Steve Job’s of the world who are able to make our jobs more efficient.

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5 stars. My anti-virus software is not letting me click on the "stars", it warns the site has been identified as "malicious".

Perhaps a journalistic dig around anti-virus software, page blockers, the AI logic that goes into identifying what is what and who is who, might be interesting...?

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Copy/Paste is miraculous. But Undo is a true life-changer

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“My work friends and I shared our briefs with each other, too.” <-- so many sophomoric, juvenile, middle-school-esque responses come to mind...but I practice decency and refrain! Is it just me? : )

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One thing I've wondered, not so much as an invention as it was a revolution, but who was the first person that decided they were going to mow their lawn? Were they bored and thought it would be a good idea? Did they do it so predators wouldn't be able to hide as easy? Did other people in the tribe think that person was nuts for trying something new called landscaping? ... These are the things I wonder when I mow my lawn.

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My favourite function is undo by far, Ctrl + Z all the way.

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Jan 6, 2023Liked by Bill Murphy Jr.

Great story, Bill. You definitely earned your 20¢ today! 😉

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As we threw away a rather large tangle of now useless tech cables and cords from by-gone phones, printers, laptops, etc., I appreciated that all of our electric cords use the same wall outlets. How awful would it be to constantly hire electricians to change our electrical outlets in walls! Who standardized wall outlets for electrical items? (A few safety improvements have been added through the years.) Why does each smart phone, laptop, etc. have different plugs? How much easier would it be if that was standardized!

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go tessler..............i'm gonna do a Tessler

go tessler..............i'm gonna do a Tessler

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Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste Copy and paste

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OMG! Used and taught copy/cut/paste so much in my office support/admin career and never knew where it came from, who invented it, too busy to even have those thoughts most times but briefly. How wonderful, and sad, that after so many years I now know! What a wonderful info! Thank you so much for sharing! It saved me and many others!

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