# Tonail clippings
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 27, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124 "2012-02-27T06:30:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CMSellers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CMSellers)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/1 "2012-02-27T06:30:56Z")
OK, this has been driving me crazy for some time:
How did people trim their toenails before toenail clippers/scissors?
~CMS
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/2 "2012-02-27T06:49:46Z")
A simple answer is[scissors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissors), which are dated back to 1500BC.
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### Author:  [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/3 "2012-02-27T06:51:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> A simple answer is[scissors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissors), which are dated back to 1500BC.
Anecdote but there is an old Popeye cartoon from the 1930s where Popeye uses scissors to cut his toenails. Kinda puzzled me as a kid.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/4 "2012-02-27T06:56:01Z")
> [@grude](#):
>
> Anecdote but there is an old Popeye cartoon from the 1930s where Popeye uses scissors to cut his toenails. Kinda puzzled me as a kid.
Really? I’ve always used scissors.
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### Author:  [@CMSellers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CMSellers)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/5 "2012-02-27T07:49:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> A simple answer is[scissors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissors), which are dated back to 1500BC.
Humans have been around for about four million years, well before the development of metal-working.
~CMS
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/6 "2012-02-27T10:13:41Z")
> [@CMSellers](#):
>
> OK, this has been driving me crazy for some time:
> How did people trim their toenails before toenail clippers/scissors?
They could have easily filed them down with some suitably hard, rough object, like a rock. Certainly hasn’t been any shortage of rocks in human history, and they don’t require any fancy metalworking or other craftsmanship. Just walk around until you find one the right size and texture, and rub it on your nails.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/7 "2012-02-27T12:06:38Z")
I still very rarely use nail clippers, on fingers or toes. I just use another finger nail to make a nick in the side and then tear across. Easy. Occasionally you end up tearing a bit too low though, which hurts.
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### Author:  [@Borzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borzo)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/8 "2012-02-27T13:36:02Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> They could have easily filed them down with some suitably hard, rough object, like a rock. Certainly hasn’t been any shortage of rocks in human history, and they don’t require any fancy metalworking or other craftsmanship. Just walk around until you find one the right size and texture, and rub it on your nails.
I don’t use clippers/scissors - I always use a nail file.
And the basic design of a nail file has existed in nature since rocks were invented. I concur that this is the most likely answer.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/9 "2012-02-27T15:55:37Z")
> [@CMSellers](#):
>
> Humans have been around for about four million years, well before the development of metal-working.
>
> ~CMS
Ok, then start a thread asking what people used before scissors to clip their toenails.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/10 "2012-02-27T16:01:44Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> I still very rarely use nail clippers, on fingers or toes. I just use another finger nail to make a nick in the side and then tear across. Easy. Occasionally you end up tearing a bit too low though, which hurts.
GAHHHH! That just made my stomach flip.😛
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### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/11 "2012-02-27T16:22:27Z")
I assume that, before we wore shoes, toenails just wore down from exposure and possibly use.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/12 "2012-02-27T16:25:27Z")
> [@davidm](#):
>
> I assume that, before we wore shoes, toenails just wore down from exposure and possibly use.
I would think that to. They would probably grow thicker and heavier, and more likely would be trimmed by abrasion than cutting. But we only have to address the OP, which asks about the invention of nail clippers, which may only have been a couple of hundred years ago.
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### Author:  [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/13 "2012-02-27T16:26:45Z")
> [@Borzo](#):
>
> I don’t use clippers/scissors - I always use a nail file.
>
> And the basic design of a nail file has existed in nature since rocks were invented. I concur that this is the most likely answer.
Gets my vote.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/14 "2012-02-27T16:34:46Z")
> [@Colophon](#):
>
> I still very rarely use nail clippers, on fingers or toes. I just use another finger nail to make a nick in the side and then tear across. Easy. Occasionally you end up tearing a bit too low though, which hurts.
This is me as well. Don’t even own clippers.
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### Author:  [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/15 "2012-02-27T16:49:11Z")
> [@davidm](#):
>
> I assume that, before we wore shoes, toenails just wore down from exposure and possibly use.
This is probably still the preferred method, for some.
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### Author:  [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/16 "2012-02-27T17:27:25Z")
Old timers used a knife. Bits of nail were pared away, then the rock-as-emery was probably employed to get rid of the rough edges.
~VOW
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### Author:  [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/17 "2012-02-27T17:48:28Z")
FWIW. My daughter just brings her foot up to her mouth and chews them off.
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### Author:  [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/18 "2012-02-27T18:48:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> But we only have to address the OP, which asks about the invention of nail clippers, which may only have been a couple of hundred years ago.
What are you on about? The OP asks about scissors, which makes your 1st, 3rd and 4th posts somewhat odd.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/19 "2012-02-27T19:19:27Z")
> [@figure9](#):
>
> FWIW. My daughter just brings her foot up to her mouth and chews them off.
When I was a kid and considerably more flexible, this is what I did. Now I file.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tonail-clippings/614124/20 "2012-02-27T19:45:29Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#):
>
> What are you on about? The OP asks about scissors, which makes your 1st, 3rd and 4th posts somewhat odd.
Actually nothing, and I apologize to the OP (and others) for the intrusion.
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