[pols, hist, curr ev, anthro, US] Hang in there, Chad!

[siderea]

No Googling! Answer off the top of your head.

Poll Hang in there, Chad!

Comments

[foms]

I'm a bit mystified about what you mean by a possible difference between "what hanging chads means" and "what hanging chads refers to", in this context. If I had to guess, I'd say that by means, you mean an interpretation of the words alone, in which case, I don't think that it means anything that doesn't have the same meaning as that in the complete phrase.

I hope that this comment does not give too much away. Please delete it if you think that it does.

[siderea]

I think that, if you don't think of "hanging chads" as referring to something beyond what you know "hanging chads" to be, your answer to "I know what 'hanging chads' refers to" may well be "no".

[azurelunatic]

My interpretation is that "means" is, "I know what the concept of a chad is, and what it means when one is said to be hanging", and "refers to" is, "I am aware of the historical context in which this was even a thing."

[cartesiandaemon]

That was my interpretation, but I wasn't sure -- if there's something else about hanging chads as well, but I don't know it, I don't know I didn't know it.

[jenk]

Then-local editorial cartoonist David Horsey published a book of cartoons with a title reference to Hanging Chads..

[cvirtue]

For a while, one could even buy "hanging chad earrings" in case one was incapable of using scissors on cardstock.

Worse than 2000

[yakshaver]

I finished Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton yesterday (Monday), so I've recently been reminded of some of the details of the election of 1800. (Short form: Tied in the Electoral College, so decided by the incoming Congress. But not Congress in its usual disarray: Instead, to quote the Constitution, "in choosing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representatives from each State having one Vote; a quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice...." So instead of the usual disarray with which Congress proceeds, a total clusterfuck. Which we might well get to see again.)

Re: Worse than 2000

[siderea]

We should be so lucky.

[qualmish]

I voted "yes" to both, but time has faded the precise differences among hanging chad (which I think is attached by the merest corner fibers), swinging chad (which I think is more solidly attached, perhaps by part of the edge), and other such technical terms that had never been heard before nor since. That was the first election in which I had a stake.