The debit card has finally started to become popular in the US. What's more, people are finally starting to trust it.

That said, I still always seem to get stuck in supermarket queues behind some people (nearly always middle-aged housewives) who spend up to eight hours, hand carving and engraving a cheque*, using a quill pen, gold leaf paint, and the sort of detail that used to be the exclusive preserve of medieval monks.

Europeans have been using their debit cards for years. I got my first debit card in Britain way back in 1988. The ‘cashback’ option at supermarkets was a fact of life since the early nineties. This, of course, saves a lot of time at the checkout, and means we can devote more time to drinking weapons-grade espresso, wearing black rollneck sweaters, and watching frightfully thought-provoking documentaries**.

When I moved to the US in 1999, my new bank was trying to wow me, with what they have to offer. My 'personal banker'*** said proudly, "And this is our debit card. It's a new kind of card...." and went on to explain it to me as if I was from some third world country† where electricity was unknown, explaining what a debit card was.

As you can imagine, I lost no time in setting her straight, letting her know that I'd had one of these for eleven years in Britain.

Anyway, what I wanted to share with you, was a story about a woman in Britain, who had her debit card stolen, and ended up with more money in her account than she started with!

Go to, top UK tech news (with a cynical attitude) site, The Register to read the story.

Footnotes
*If you're American, you spell it 'check'

**Because that's all we do in Europe, apart from driving stark-but-efficient German cars and listening to Kraftwerk.

***This is a banking term which means, "person employed to smile warmly, whilst telling you to fuck off and pay the charges.

†Contrary to popular American belief, Britain is not a third-world country, we just spend our money quietly on beer.