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Chads are paper particles created when holes are made in a paper, card or similar synthetic materials, typically computer punched tape or punch cards.

Chads were made famous in the highly contentious 2000 presidential election in the United States, where a majority in the U.S. Electoral College was determined in Florida by the counting of punch card ballots. Voters leaving incompletely-punched holes resulted in partially-punched chads, where one or more corners were still attached, or dimpled chads (also known as pregnant chads) where all corners were still attached, but an indentation appeared to have been made.

Chads are more commonly seen in mundane, everyday settings. When a hole punch (of the functional or decorative type) is used, it removes a small amount of paper - a chad. Chads are also common in stores, where holes are punched so that merchandise can be hung on pegs or clip strips.

Chads are also the small strips, pieces of paper or shred waste that remain of the documents fed through a paper shredder. [1]

Likewise, chads 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" was originally used as a mass noun, similar to "sand": "chad" meant "a pile of paper debris", and the individual paper piece might be called "a piece of chad". Nowadays, however, the word seems to be used in the singular, thus "a chad", "hanging chads" and so on.

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

The origin of the term chad is uncertain. (It has been seen in Teletype Corp. parts catalogs for tape punch units that were first invented in the 1920s. The metal tube that collects the chad is called the "chad chute", and they collect in a "chad box"). The term chad predates the Chadless punch which makes a U-shaped hole rather than punching it out entirely. It is more likely from the Scottish name for river gravel, chad, or the British slang for louse, chat. An old (untrue) joke says that Saint Chad is the patron saint of disputed elections.

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 chads are attached to the ballot at only one corner.
• Swinging chads are attached to the ballot at two corners.
• Tri-chads are attached to the ballot at three corners.
• Pregnant or dimpled chads 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.)

• The 2006 film Bobby makes light of the term chad by making it a backronym of Card Hole Aggregate Debris.
• In the TV show How I Met Your Mother, Ted Mosby dresses up as a "hanging chad" every year for Halloween, in the hopes of meeting the "Slutty Pumpkin", a woman dressed as a jack-o'-lantern (complete with strategically-placed holes) whom he once met at a Halloween party.
• In the TV show The Simpsons, the episode entitled The Lastest Gun in the West, the following exchange occurs, ironic because Krusty did not want his show to seem dated:

    Woman: Here's your hanging chad sketch, Krusty!
    Krusty: Ooh, you worked in Judge Ito!

• Bit bucket
• Teleprinter -- Teletype
• Paper tape
• Key punch -- Card punch
• Punch card

• Snopes Urban Legend - Debunking the Chadless keypunch etymology
• Word Detective - on Chad
• BBC News - on Chads
• Macmillan English Dictionary on chads
• Jargon file entry