# Has anyone seen the \*good\* scissors? I can never keep anything nice. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442 "2009-09-01T03:34:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/41 "2009-09-04T16:49:16Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > If you can’t use the good scissors for any of these chores, what do you use them for? The only use I have for scissors is to cut paper, and I generally use single edge razor blades for that. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Cutting paper will ruin the blades of a good pair of sewing scissors, and as someone else pointed out, very few people actually sharpen scissors any more. It’s a waste of money to buy a new pair of sewing scissors every time one wants to make a new garment, so only those people who actually sew are allowed to use the sewing scissors. > [@gigi](#): > > Fabric scissors are for fabric only. > All-purpose scissors might be for paper, gift wrap, ribbon, non-fabric crafts. > Kitchen shears are for cutting food, stubborn packaging, anything tough. > Then there’s the tin snips. What would account for this in a house where little-to-no fabric cutting is done? I grew up in a household consisting of my mother and her parents, and I remember my grandmother purchasing a pair of “good” scissors that she declared off-limits for paper. Yet the only sewing done in that household was mending and minor alterations (taking something in, raising or lowering hemlines or sleeve lengths.) No one used scissors on food. So what the hell was up with that? Was Nana anticipating some great fabric emergency? ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/42 "2009-09-04T19:25:33Z")
I got sick of crappy scissors so I bought a serious $30 pair. No fancy stuff, just solid steel, 1940s school marm scissors. Knowing scissors have a tendency to disappear, I make an effort to always know exactly where they are. They go into a special cup, and when I take them out to use them I hold them in my hand like they’re the antidote to my cancer until I get them back into their cup. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/43 "2009-09-04T19:35:25Z")
What ARE good scissors and what are they used on that’s so important? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/44 "2009-09-04T19:49:13Z")
> [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > What would account for this in a house where little-to-no fabric cutting is done? I grew up in a household consisting of my mother and her parents, and I remember my grandmother purchasing a pair of “good” scissors that she declared off-limits for paper. > > Yet the only sewing done in that household was mending and minor alterations (taking something in, raising or lowering hemlines or sleeve lengths.) > > No one used scissors on food. > > So what the hell was up with that? Was Nana anticipating some great fabric emergency? No offense, but maybe she didn’t trust little kids to keep them nice so she told you they were off-limits? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/45 "2009-09-04T21:00:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Yet the only sewing done in that household was mending and minor alterations (taking something in, raising or lowering hemlines or sleeve lengths.) Cutting paper (or other things) can leave a notch in the blades of scissors, and a notch is very aggravating when one is trying to cut fabric evenly. All of the sewing tasks that you mention might very well involve cutting fabric at one point, and having a ruined pair of scissors is worse than having no scissors at all, because if they’re ruined, not only can you not cut with them, but you know that someone has used them inappropriately. And, as I said, it’s very aggravating to go out and buy a new pair of scissors because someone ruined the old pair. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/46 "2009-09-04T21:28:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I can never keep anything nice. Said, IIRC, by Paula Poundstone’s mother after she broke a Flintstones jelly glass. But I have to hide my poultry shears to prevent Certain People from using them _and not putting them back, damn it._ Same with my work gloves - help yourself, but put them away where you found them! _pant pant_ Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/47 "2009-09-04T21:44:28Z")
I know where they went. On another board a fabric store clerk got stabbed in the back with shears by a retarded person. Never turn you back on an unstable person. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/48 "2009-09-04T23:32:06Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > No offense, but maybe she didn’t trust little kids to keep them nice so she told you they were off-limits? None taken. I actually think she was more concerned with my 35 year-old mother making off with the scissors than with me doing so. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442/49 "2009-09-05T03:16:49Z")
At some point, my mom got fed up enough that she ordered personalized scissors from somewhere. Hers were engraved “Mom.” My sister’s and mine were engraved with our first names. You know, now that I think about, it was probably Dad who ordered the scissors. It would have been a very Dad thing to do. I have no idea what happened to the ones engraved with my name, but I now am in possession of the “Mom” scissors – and they’re crappy scissors! OTH, I also have all the good sewing scissors, the pinking shears – and the buttonhole scissors with the little screw adjustment so you don’t cut through the edge of the buttonhole! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-seen-the-good-scissors-i-can-never-keep-anything-nice/508442.md?page=2)