I don’t have time for you, my schedule is full. The practice of women using a card to list their prospective partners at a formal dance dates from the early 1800s. Nevertheless, although the practice is just about obsolete, the expression persists. In 2010 an online journal Gawker used the headline: “The Dance-Card Problem, College Girls Outnumber College Guys.” And in colloquial speech, “I can’t make it Saturday or any other time this spring; my dance card is full.”