Retrospect: calling card, part0

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor looks into the idea of calling cards.

Annapolis Valley, early 80s, was very traditional. More and more I realize the extent to which that was true.

There were a couple of older kids who used to show up out of nowhere sometimes, usually at some parking lot we happened to be passing through or hanging in for a bit. While we were 11 or 12, they could drive. They would usually greet us with light insults. However, back then, that’s how older kids often treated you: kind of mean, then kind of nice. After they said a few mean things, a normal conversation would start.

One such occasion, a friend of mine and myself were in a parking lot with our bikes up on kickstands, discussing where we’d go next. Land was cheap there, so parking lots were big. Far away, we noticed their (the older kids’) car driving along the road, then pulling into the parking lot where we were. They drove right up to us, and the pleasantries/insults began. We gave as good as we got, of course. After a couple of minutes, the normal talk commenced.

One of them showed me, from his wallet, an Ace of Hearts. “It’s my calling card,” he said. I asked him what that meant: “It means I was there,” he said. I still wondered, but couldn’t think of a question that would bring him to clarify the purpose of the calling card. The conversation moved on, and in less than five minutes they drove off.

Now and then, I would wonder about the calling card, since I’d never heard of one, yet they were obviously real. The years went by – the event might have been 40 years ago – but still, once in awhile, I’d recall that question. Finally, I thought of it yesterday when I was in front of a web browser: I keyed in “calling card,” and got more than I expected.

The idea of a calling card is steeped in tradition reaching back hundreds of years. In a house, in the entry or receiving-room, there would be a tray on a table – that tray would contain the calling cards. If someone called but the callee was out or not receiving guests, the caller would leave their calling card. Later, the occupant could look through the calling cards in the tray to discover who had called on them. The cards themselves could be prepared with varying levels of formality. Some weren’t meant to prompt a reply, but rather just to offer congratulations, etc, surrounding an event. Invited into the house, you could look at the calling cards in the tray and discover who else had been there. Although formal and polite, it was a manner of “tagging.”

As I’ve mentioned, I never saw a tray of calling cards at any house in that town. Did people have them, and I just didn’t know? It seems to me that kid was talking about something real: what degree of participation and/or formality he knew of, regarding calling cards, is intriguing to contemplate.

Source:

hobancards.com