# Running with scissors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693 "2006-07-31T12:30:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phrontist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phrontist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phrontist)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/1 "2006-07-31T12:30:39Z")
So is running with scissors just another one of those stupid things parents worry about, like checking Halloween candy? IIRC correctly, there is only one documented case of a child’s candy being poisoned, and it was by a family member. So how many people have been hurt by running while holding a pair of scissors, really? ---
**Author:** ![Shai\_tan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Shai\_tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shai_tan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/2 "2006-07-31T12:36:37Z")
[QUOTE=Phrontist] So how many people have been hurt by running while holding a pair of scissors, really? [/QUOTE] I know someone who accidently stabbed his brother in the stomach while running a steak knife to his mom in the living room. He was holding it at waist level in the same basic grip that most kids hold scissors. Not the SAME thing, but still a sharp object and had they been scissors, the result would have been the same. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/3 "2006-07-31T13:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=Phrontist] IIRC correctly, there is only one documented case of a child’s candy being poisoned, and it was by a family member. [/QUOTE] Are you sure about that? Do you have a cite? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/4 "2006-07-31T13:38:35Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Are you sure about that? Do you have a cite? [/QUOTE] Nevermind. Some VERY quick googling turned up the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/5 "2006-07-31T15:03:12Z")
[QUOTE=Phrontist] So is running with scissors just another one of those stupid things parents worry about, like checking Halloween candy? IIRC correctly, there is only one documented case of a child’s candy being poisoned, and it was by a family member. So how many people have been hurt by running while holding a pair of scissors, really? [/QUOTE] It is a safety issue of what CAN happen and sometimes does. A better question: Why do any thing in an unsafe manner when it can be done safely? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/6 "2006-07-31T20:34:14Z")
I’m not sure I’d spend too much time looking for where the meme of “not running with scissors” came from. Kids are impulsive and don’t always think things through. It’s the nature of being a kid. So telling them not to run with scissors is hardly a bizarre idea. Scissors are sharp and pointy. It’s not like telling them not to have their haircut during a solar eclipse. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/7 "2006-07-31T20:36:11Z")
Tangentially-related, I have, in fact, run on the wet deck beside a pool, slipped, fallen, and hurt myself. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/8 "2006-07-31T20:51:45Z")
Of course bad things can happen if you run with scissors. But you could win a [medal](http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f295/bedgyro/scissors.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/9 "2006-07-31T23:32:08Z")
not scissors, but i saw the xray of a kid who ran with a toothbrush in his mouth. yep, he tripped and fell face first. that toothbrush ended up less than a millimetre from an artery. whoa nelly, i’ll bet that was one terrified kid, mom, emt, and surgeon. i’m sure there are documented cases of scissor stabs, just like toothbrush, lollypop, pencil, etc. stabs. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/10 "2006-08-01T01:48:03Z")
Ha. Nice thread title. Whenever my ma calls me up she invariably asks me what I’m doing (meaning right then & there). I always reply with something like “running with scissors, eating cookies before dinner, and sitting too close to the television set!” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/11 "2006-08-01T02:54:06Z")
Heck, I know a guy who’s completely deaf in one ear because he put a q-tip in his ear, and when trying to grab it out, jammed it in. Well, then he didn’t take proper care of the infection, either. But it proves the point that people injure themselves in remarkable ways. I ran to my car in a parking lot, and before I knew it, I was catching myself in a pushup position, right over a parking block. I don’t remember slipping or falling. Without the catch, I would have broken numerous ribs. ---
**Author:** ![shimmery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@shimmery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shimmery)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/12 "2006-08-02T07:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] Tangentially-related, I have, in fact, run on the wet deck beside a pool, slipped, fallen, and hurt myself. [/QUOTE] [lifeguard] You know, kids really do slip all the time. You can also fall and scrape your knee on the concrete. And do you know how many times I’ve seen a kickboard being sat on fly out and hit someone in the head? Geez… [/lifeguard] (Seriously… go back and walk, mister!) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/13 "2006-08-02T10:06:50Z")
Don’t run while eating with chopsticks, either. > **[News on Japan, Business News, Opinion, Sports, Entertainment and More](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/)** > > Latest news on Japan: business, politics, commentary, sports, culture, life and more You need to register to read older articles, but here’s the gist: > [@The Japan Times](#): > > [4-year-old Junzo]Sugino was eating cotton candy off a wooden chopstick on July 10, 1999, at a community summer festival in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, when he fell down. The chopstick pierced his throat and part of it broke off in his brain, they said. > > … > > The child had a decreased level of consciousness and repeatedly vomited, in what were signs of brain damage, according to the prosecutors. The boy died the following day. “Doctor faces year over child’s death” Japan Times, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/14 "2006-08-02T11:06:44Z")
In the Netherlands, there has been a famous case of a lady tripping over her carpet while holding a pen. It disappeared in her eye and killed her. Familymembers were tried for murder, but aquitted. I knew this family from a distance. The defense gathered examples of other similarly bizarre injuries, and came up with people dying while _knitting_. Old ladies sitting upright in bed, knitwork in lap, and then they pulled up their knees to sit more comfortably. Legs push the knitting-needle up into nose, eye or mouth. :eek: ☹ ---
**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:** [August 2, 2006, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/15 "2006-08-02T11:31:17Z")
Halloween candy tampering was more of a 60’s 70’s problem. There were articles in the papers about incidents. You can search the papers from that period the week before and after, because of local variations of the official night. Most towns had it on Halloween though. The incidents were usually pins or razors in apples or other unwraped items. Sometimes some got dropped in the bags, but that was rare. Like I said read the newspapers archived from the days around Halloween. They offered free candy x-rays at the local hospital in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/16 "2006-08-02T23:03:17Z")
Scissors today are less sharp than the scissors of yesteryear! My granny’s had to be sharpened on a whetstone. She could cut corduroy or denim without scissoring - just by pushing it against the fabric. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/running-with-scissors/366693/17 "2006-08-03T01:56:30Z")
The kids used to be given juice or water in a Sip A Cup, which used to have a spout that folded over to supposedly seal the cup closed. The spout was very thick plastic, and was a part of the moulded lid of the cup. Son took a sip, tripped over my foot and fell face down. The thick plastic sip spout tore into the upper palate of his mouth. It missed going far enough in to damage the soft palate ( which is nice, because his brain resides just above THAT area ), but I didn’t know that when the blood gushed out of his mouth and nose. Took a while to find the First Aid station, and when we got him rinsed out, we saw the tear in the hard palate. Frightening moment anyway. So, don’t let the kids run with a cup in their mouth. Cartooniverse