Editing Chad (paper) (section)

== 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 [[teleprinter|telegraphy]].  These patents sometimes include synonyms such as "[[chaff]]" and "[[chip (waste)|chip]]s".  A patent filing in 1930 included a "receptacle or ''[[chad box]]'' ... to receive the chips cut from the edge of the tape."<ref>Howard L. Krum, Coupon Printer, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US1884755 U.S. Patent 1,884,755], filed Oct. 16, 1930, issued Oct. 25, 1932.</ref> A 1938 patent filing included a "chaff or ''chad chute''" to collect the waste fragments.<ref>Albert H. Reiber, 
Telegraph Transmitter, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2213475 U.S. Patent 2,213,475], filed July 18, 1938, issued Sept. 3, 1940.</ref> Both patents were assigned to [[Teletype Corporation]].

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."<ref>Walter M. Bacon, Tape Splicer, [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2246655 U.S. Patent 2,246,655], filed Feb. 20, 1940, issued June 24, 1941.</ref>

In the ''[[New Hacker's Dictionary]]'', two unattributed and likely humorous{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} derivations for "chad" are offered, a [[back-formation]] from a personal name "Chadless" and an [[acronym]] for "Card Hole Aggregate Debris".<ref>[[Eric S. Raymond]], Chad, [https://books.google.com/books?id=g80P_4v4QbIC&pg=PA108 The New Hacker's Dictionary], Third Ed., 1996; page 108.</ref>  Other etymologies claim derivation from the [[Scotland|Scottish]] name for river gravel, ''chad'', or the [[United Kingdom|British]] slang for [[louse]], ''chat''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}}