Another UL debunked: The word "chad", as seen in the press recently
in light of some dubious events in the US, is not back-formed from a
Mr. Chadless, inventor of the chadless key punch, as the
Jargon File
suggested. It now appears that Mr. Chadless never existed (no more than the
legendary inventor of the brassière, the renowned German engineer
Otto Titzling).
The latest theory is that 'chad' comes from
the Scottish word for
gravel.
(I wonder whether, once facts are forgotten and selectively rediscovered a few
times, theories will emerge that the term "chad" originated in the year 2000,
as a reference to St. Chad, the patron saint of disputed elections.)