These terms come from the editing of paper where people literally cut and paste material from one location to another, using scissors to literally cut out a portion and glue it somewhere else. This ability has been a part of software on a computer since the shift from punch-cards in the late 1960′s. On computers today the functions are often associated by the popularly accepted norm in keyboard-shortcuts (Windows: ctrl+x, ctrl+c, and ctrl+v. Mac: Command-x, Command-c, Command-v.)
