[General] Please swipe your card

[Silverobama]

Hi,

One of my cousins is working as a guard in a hospital. Every day, he needs to say "Please swipe your card" to hospital staff then they can pass the entrance.

I wonder if "Please swipe your card" is natural here.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's natural, but he surely doesn't need to say that hundreds of times a day, does he?

 

[tedmc]

I thought security cards these days are scanned by card readers rather than swiped.

 

[Silverobama]

I looked up "swipe card" on Google Image just now. I now know what it looks like. You need to put your card, usually there's a magnet stripe on it, and go through the card machine.

As ted said, yes, now people here use scaner to read cards.

But I do see swipe card machines used in some schools to pay for meals.

Now my problem is:

I want to write down "swipe one's card" in a sentence for future reference, would you please help me?

Thank you so much

 

[Yankee]

I looked up "swipe card" on Google Image just now. I now know what it looks like. You need to [STRIKE]put[/STRIKE] enter your card, and usually there's a magnetic stripe on it, [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] to go through the card machine.

As ted said, yes, now people here use a scanner to read cards.

But I do see swipe card machines used in some schools to pay for meals.

Now my problem is:

I want to write down "swipe one's card" in a sentence for future reference, would you please help me?

Thank you so much

For example: It's necessary to swipe one's card in order to enter the building.

 

[Tdol]

I don't see a problem with calling this swiping- we still use floppy disc icons to indicate saving a documents when most computer users have never seen a floppy disc,

 

[tedmc]

I don't see a problem with calling this swiping- we still use floppy disc icons to indicate saving a documents when most computer users have never seen a floppy disc,

I thought swiping means actual physical contact between the card and the machine, whereas there is no such contact these days as card-reading is done using light or magnetic field.

 

[GoesStation]

I thought swiping means actual physical contact between the card and the machine, whereas there is no such contact these days as card-reading is done using light or magnetic field.

I agree. There are three common ways to collect credit-card information automatically:

1. Swiping: ​the card is slid through a slot so the device can read a magnetic stripe;
2. Dipping: the card is inserted into a device that makes electrical contact and exchanges information with an embedded chip;
3. Contactless: the card is tapped on or held near a radio-based reader. The chip in the card is powered by a modulated magnetic field emitted by the reader.

Method 1 is still widely used in the United States, though it's finally being supplanted by method 2. Method 2 is probably the most common method in the US and is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. Method 3 is overtaking method 2 in Europe and many other places. It's pretty widely available in the US but is not widely used.

"Swiping" is, I think, generally understood to apply only to method 1. I haven't heard "dipping" used outside of the industry but some others may use the term. "Contactless" is, I think, widely known as the word to describe method 3.