a line of credit card ?

Question

"Reliable customers were offered a line of credit card at the store"What does 'a line of credit card' exactly mean in this sentence?

GPY · Accepted Answer

A "line of credit" is a credit facility whereby customers can obtain goods now and pay later. No doubt you already know what a "credit card" is. This sentence runs together these two phrases to produce an unidomatic combination. What is the source of the sentence?

Michelle Cha · Answer

" The prevalence of credit card in American society is a modern development, but the concept of purchasing goods on credit is not. The idea goes back centuries, to a time when store owners knew each of their customers personally. They were aware of who had a steady job and who could be trusted to pay back money loaned. Reliable customers were offered a line of credit card at the store- they had the option to take items and pay for them at some future date. Not surprisingly, the earliest version of credit cards emerged from this model. In the 1920s and 1930s, they were provided by individual companies as a perk for loyal customers. The only real departure from the past was the introduction of a physical card to track purchases. The card were made of paper or metal and were often kept by the merchant as opposed to the customer, since they could only be used through that specific company. The next step came in the 1940s, when airlines started offering credit cards as a way to lure customers. What was novel about these was that a card issued by one airline was accepted by all others as well. Then in 1950, the first true “general-purpose” card was created by Dines club. Thanks to a global network of merchants, this single card could be used to purchase products on credit from store and companies all over the world. Airline credit cards differ from earlier versions in that they could be used for travel purchases."

So... does credit card here really mean that plastic card?

GPY · Answer

It seems to be describing a "card" (plastic card, or whatever material existed then) that offers a "line of credit", i.e. operates in a similar way to a modern credit card. I think the author is using "line of credit" attributively to modify "card", possibly because the term "credit card" didn't exist then, or possibly even because they actually were called "line of credit cards" at the time. However, to modern eyes, "credit card" is such a strong unit that the phrase "line of credit card" tends to appear as "line of" + "credit card", even though that doesn't work grammatically. I think that writing it as "line-of-credit card" might be clearer.

The other possibility is that it is a mistake, and it was supposed to simply say "offered a line of credit at the store".

CalifJim · Answer

GPYI think that writing it as "line-of-credit card" might be clearer.

I agree. That makes it much easier to understand.

CJ

a line of credit card ?

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