I, for one, welcome our new big paper clip overlords. 
Big, small, in between: I can deal. I can even take the HUMONGOUS (like EIGHT INCHES LONG) yellow plastic one a coworker keeps on her desk.
But what about the MUTANT paper clips? We got a whole box of them last month, shaped into little circles! Disgusting, what?
Okay, it’s not their fault they were born mutated, but at least they should be ashamed enough to throw themselves back into the molten vat and try for rebirth as, oh, maybe a coat hangar.
Just saying.
Paper clips are the larval stage of wire clothes hangers.
Think about it!
You can never find a paper clip when you really need one, and you always end up with more wire clothes hangers than you could ever possibly use.
Occam’s Razor, the Scientific Method, and Pretty People Who Don’t Sweat DEMAND that you accept this half assed theory as a Universal Axiom!
Interesting hypothesis.
But to be a true theory, it must have predictive validity.
So what happens to the Missing Socks?
If this is true, where are the transitional forms?
Out in glenrose near here they have examples of both big paper clips and wire hangers togeather.
That proves…something…
have you noticed the resurgence of ponchos lately . . . .
I esprecially hate the paper clips that tell me how to write my word documents.
The pupal stage looks just like dust bunnies and/or pennies. Depends on the species.
Eve already explained the missing socks / pancho link.
Check your dryers!
Keep watching the laundery!
I hate teeny tiny safety pins.
Well now, that’s just weird.
Every so often the washer spits out a sweater of unknown origin.
At least, it does at my house.
All paper clips suck.
Staples are too permament and paper clips are too wimpy.
http://www.halconet.com/store/default.php?cPath=6
Stoid, happy Clam Clip user since 1985.
The purpose of big paper clips is the manual ejection of CDs when your CD drive goes wonky.
It all dates back to the Macintosh floppy emergency eject pinhole, of course. Things like CDROM drives just followed suit when they came along.
As an afficianado of sproing, I agree with the OP.
What? You’ve never heard of sproing? Could that have anything to do with the fact that I invented it?
Sproing is the most fun you can have in an office where you’re really really bored. Here’s how you play:
Take one paperclip, preferably of the small variety. Unbend it, then rebend it into a circle. One end should be about 1/2 inch from the other, in the Z dimension. Adjust it so that you can hook the top end under the bottom end in such a way that the smallest vibration will unhook it. This is known as the “locked”, or “ready” position. Hold it about 1/2 inch over a desk, and release. The impact with the desk will cause the ends to unhook with force, thus launching the sproing to very respectable altitudes.
Sport launching is very popular, but competition sproinging has its own rewards. Here is how you score:
Sproing lands in a coworker’s coffee cup - 1 point
Coworker is unwilling to participate or unaware of the game - add 2 points
Coffee cup is full, fresh, and piping hot - add 3 points
Sproing lands in unaware coworker’s hair and stays there for the rest of the day - 10 points
The reason large paperclips are bad for this is that they don’t have enough springiness, or “thrust”, and there is too much dead weight. Usually they don’t clear the rim of the coffee cup.
I think that this is the appropriate place to confess my unnatural attraction to butterfly clips. Those giant size paper clips that are shaped like opposed triangles.
They are the ultimate apex of office supplies.
You, sir, are a man with Exceedingly Good Taste.
I would go a little further and claim that they may be the ultimate apex of Western Civilization. Well, them or Sqyntz!
I buy my own butterfly clips and bring them into the office. People like them so much they steal them from my desk. The horror, the horror.
Well, now we know that Otto isn’t a size queen.
originaly posted byNoClueBoy
No I am sorry the larval stage is missing socks. There are not near enough ponchos in the world. Unless perhaps socks are the pupal stage… hmmm. Ok that works, but what is the egg stage?
My nipples are aroused around large paper clips.
Just saying…