Chad; Ask a stupid question...

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

CHAD

    Chad.  It's a country in Africa.
    OK, I know, everybody's gotta know "chad."  I went through EVERY SINGLE
EXTREMELY BORING BOOK ON PUNCH CARDS in the NYPL today, and I didn't see
"chad."
    OED has one 1959 citation and has "origin unknown."
    A SIMPLIFIED GUIDE TO AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING by William A. Bocchino
(Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, first edition 1966, second
edition 1972) has a nice "glossary of ADP terms."  From page 64:

_Chad_:  A small piece of paper tape or punch card removed when punching a
hole to represent information.

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ASK A STUPID QUESTION, GET A STUPID ANSWER

   I probably antedated ADP and other terms, but I don't have time for that
now.  The journal MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS AUTOMATION began in 1959, but I
didn't see "chad."  A nice cartoon is in April 1959, pg. 27, col. 1.  A woman
tells her boss the results from the computer:

   "Well, ask a silly question, you get a silly answer."