the.com/perforation
The dotted line that promises a clean break and rarely delivers one.
means A line of small holes punched into paper or material so it will tear along a neat, predictable edge.
from From Latin perforare — per ('through') plus forare ('to bore or pierce'), the same forare that gives us 'foramen,' the technical word for a small opening in bone. The word entered English in the 1500s simply meaning 'a piercing,' and only later settled into its ticket-stub, stamp-sheet destiny.
- origin
- from Latin perforare, to bore through
- stamps
- invented 1854 to replace scissors
- physics
- tiny holes concentrate stress so tearing follows the line
- irony
- designed for control, famous for ragged edges