# Death by a thousand paper cuts. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts/582058 "2011-05-16T03:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RoeCocoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@RoeCocoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoeCocoa)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts/582058/41 "2011-06-25T03:57:31Z")
Skimming this thread has made me woozy. Before I pass out, I’d like to ask if losing the basic structural integrity of the skin would be enough to cause death, even without the shock and bleeding. I mean, skin is important for regulating body temperature, right? If you somehow missed most of your capillaries, but damaged a sufficient number of sweat glands and integumentary nerve endings, would that be enough to kill you? ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts/582058/42 "2011-06-26T07:08:43Z")
One of the guys on Jackass paper-cut his tongue. It about killed me watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts/582058/43 "2011-07-11T18:10:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Same here. And in Gary Jennings’ excellent novel _The Journeyer_, a fictional account of Marco Polo’s travels, the death by a thousand cuts is very graphically explained, and performed on a couple of characters, and it ain’t pretty. (The “artiste” was skilled in keeping you alive as long as he wanted, no matter the damage done.) He was referred to as The Fondler, IIRC. It’s been a while since I read that book…off to the library I go! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts/582058.md?page=2)