#9: Hard Copy

What It Used to Be Called:

Copy, Text, Paper

What changed:

What you're doing right now – reading on a screen – became a standard way to get information.

These days, hard copy refers to paper versions of textual or graphic information. But when the term first appeared, the alternative wasn't digital: hard copy originally referred to printouts of microfilm.

An early use:

"To produce the best quality hard copy from a single frame of microfilm ... select a particular exposure by adjusting the time and the light source intensity." — "Proceedings of the Annual Meeting and Convention," National Microfilm Association, 1963