To write a software or document distribution on magnetic tape for
shipment. Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Early
versions of this lexicon claimed that one never analogously speaks of
`cutting a disk', but this has since been reported as live usage.
Related slang usages are mainstream business's `cut a check', the
recording industry's `cut a record', and the military's `cut an
order'.
All of these usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording
and duplication technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an
old-style vinyl record involved cutting grooves in a stamping die
with a precision lathe. More mundanely, the dominant technology for
mass duplication of paper documents in pre-photocopying days involved
"cutting a stencil", punching away portions of the wax overlay on a
silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes punched in it was
an important early storage medium. See also {burn a CD}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {burn a CD}]