Small pieces of paper or cardboard produced as waste when holes are punched in paper, cards, or tape.
Origin uncertain, possibly from Scottish dialect meaning 'gravel' or 'small stones.' The term gained widespread recognition during the 2000 U.S. presidential election when hanging chads on punch-card ballots became a major issue.
Chad is one of those wonderfully specific technical terms that suddenly exploded into general consciousness during the 2000 election controversy. Before that historic recount, most people never knew there was a word for those tiny paper circles that fall out when you use a hole punch - it's amazing how political drama can turn the most mundane technical vocabulary into household words.
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