Chad refers to paper fragments created when holes are made in a paper, card or similar synthetic materials, typically computer punched tape

Punched tape

Punched tape or paper tape is an obsolete form of data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data...

 or punched card

Punched card

A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...

s. Sometimes chad has been used as a mass noun or as a countable noun, and the plural is commonly either "chad" (as in "a pile of chad") or "chads" (as in "the multiple hanging chads"). Chad is not to be confused with the name "Chad."

Chad were made infamous in the highly contentious 2000 United States presidential election where many of Florida votes

United States presidential election in Florida, 2000

The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000 as it did in the other 49 states and D.C., which was part of the 2000 United States presidential election...

 used Votomatic style punched card ballots. Incompletely-punched holes resulted in partially punched chad, where one or more corners were still attached, a hanging chad, dimpled chad or pregnant chad - where all corners were still attached, but an indentation appears to have been made. These votes were not counted by the tabulating machines.

Chad are more commonly seen in mundane, everyday settings. When a hole punch

Hole punch

A hole punch is a common office tool that is used to create holes in sheets of paper, often for the purpose of collecting the sheets in a binder or folder.The origins of the hole punch date back to Germany via Matthias Theel, where two early patents for a...

 of the functional or decorative type is used, it removes a small amount of paper - a chad. Chad are also common in stores, where holes are punched so that merchandise can be hung on pegs or clips. Chad are also the small strips, pieces of paper or shred waste that remain of the documents fed through a paper shredder. Chad can also be the result of punching holes in any sort of thin material, such as cloth, plastic, or even sheet metal.

The term chad is sometimes used as a mass noun, similar to sand: "a pile of chad" means "a pile of paper debris", and the individual paper piece might be called either "a piece of chad" or "a chad".

Chad is sometimes used as confetti

Confetti

Confetti is a multitude of pieces of paper, mylar or metallic material which is usually thrown at parades and celebrations, especially weddings . Confetti is made in a variety of colors, and commercially available confetti is available in imaginative shapes...

. This is generally harmless when using thin circular paper chad. The rectangular chad from punched cards is unsuitable due to the sharp corners and the toughness of the card stock risking eye injury.

Etymology

The origin of the term chad is uncertain. Patent documents from the 1930s and 1940s show the word chad, often in reference to punched tape used in telegraphy

Teleprinter

A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...

. These patents sometimes include synonyms such as chaff and chips. A patent filing in 1930 included a "receptacle or chad box ... to receive the chips cut from the edge of the tape." A 1938 patent filing included a "chaff or chad chute" to collect the chad. Both patents were assigned to Teletype Corporation

Teletype Corporation

The Teletype Corporation, a part of American Telephone and Telegraph Company's Western Electric manufacturing arm since 1930, came into being in 1928 when the Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Company changed its name to the name of its trademark equipment...

.

The plural chads is attested from about 1939, along with chadless, meaning without [loose] chad. Clear definitions for both terms are offered by Walter Bacon in a patent application filed in 1940 assigned to Bell Telephone Laboratories: "... In making these perforations, the perforator cuts small round pieces of paper, known in the art as chads, out of the tape. These chads are objectionable ... Chadless tape is prepared by feeding blank tape through a device which will not punch a complete circle in the tape but, instead, will only cut approximately three-quarters of the circumference of a circle ... thereby leaving a movable, or hinged, lid of paper in the tape.

In the New Hacker's Dictionary, two derivations for chad are offered, a back-formation

Back-formation

In etymology, back-formation is the process of creating a new lexeme, usually by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1889...

 from chadless and an acronym for Card Hole Aggregate Debris. These are clearly intended as jokes. More serious speculation about the origins of the word Chad suggests derivation from the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 name for river gravel, chad, or the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 slang for louse, chat.

Partially punched chad

When a chad is not fully detached from the ballot it is described by various terms corresponding to the level of indentation. The following terms generally apply when describing a four-cornered chad:

• Hanging chad are attached to the ballot at only one corner.
• Swinging chad are attached to the ballot at two corners.
• Tri-chad are attached to the ballot at three corners.
• Pregnant or dimpled chad are attached to the ballot at all four corners, but bear an indentation indicating the voter may have intended to mark the ballot. (Sometimes pregnant is used to indicate a greater mark than dimpled.)

Chad in popular culture

• The 2006 film Bobby
  Bobby (2006 film)
  Bobby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Emilio Estevez. The screenplay is a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the June 5, 1968 shooting of United States Senator from New York and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F...
  
  makes light of the term chad by making it a backronym
  Backronym
  A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
  
   of Card Hole Aggregate Debris.
• In the TV show How I Met Your Mother
  How I Met Your Mother
  How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...
  
  , Ted Mosby
  Ted Mosby
  Theodore Evelyn "Ted" Mosby is the titular fictional character of the U.S. television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Josh Radnor...
  
   dresses up as a "hanging chad" every year for Halloween.
• In the TV show The Simpsons
  The Simpsons
  The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
  
  , in the 2002 episode entitled "The Lastest Gun in the West", the following exchange occurs:

Krusty: I want my show to have a timeless quality.

Man: Here's your hanging chad sketch, Krusty!

Krusty: Ooh, you worked in Judge Ito

Lance Ito

Lance Allan Ito is an American Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, best known for his presiding decision during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. He currently hears felony criminal cases at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.-Early life and career:Ito was born to Jim and Toshi Ito...

!

• In the TV show Entourage
  Entourage (TV series)
  Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
  
  , Jeremy Piven's character, Ari Gold, mentions a hanging chad when the box office numbers get affected due to the blackouts.
• The made-for-TV movie Recount
  Recount (film)
  Recount is a 2008 made-for-TV film about the 2000 Presidential election in the United States. The political drama was written by Danny Strong, directed by Jay Roach, and produced by Kevin Spacey, who also stars in the film....
  
  describes the problems revolving around the chad of the various marginal Florida ballots in the 2000 United States presidential election
  United States presidential election, 2000
  The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
  
  

See also

• Bush v. Gore
  Bush v. Gore
  Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
  
  
• Bit bucket
  Bit bucket
  In computing, the bit bucket is jargon for where lost computerized data has gone, by any means; any data which does not end up where it is supposed to, being lost in transmission, a computer crash, or the like, is said to have gone to the bit bucket — that mysterious place on a computer where...
  
  
• Teleprinter
  Teleprinter
  A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...
  
   -- Teletype
• Paper tape
• Keypunch -- Card punch
• Punched card
  Punched card
  A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
  
  
• Recount (film)
  Recount (film)
  Recount is a 2008 made-for-TV film about the 2000 Presidential election in the United States. The political drama was written by Danny Strong, directed by Jay Roach, and produced by Kevin Spacey, who also stars in the film....
  
  
• United States presidential election in Florida, 2000
  United States presidential election in Florida, 2000
  The 2000 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 7, 2000 as it did in the other 49 states and D.C., which was part of the 2000 United States presidential election...
  
  

External links

• Wiktionary:chad - Wiktionary definition of chad
• Snopes Urban Legend - Debunking the Chadless keypunch etymology
• Word Detective on chad
• BBC News on chad
• Macmillan English Dictionary on chad
• Jargon file entry