One of my college professors made us do this if we forgot to paper clip the pages together (he *hated* staples).

Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr.

The technique requires patience and a steady hand??? A few tries?

Along with the others, this was something I did in elementary school. It truly wasn't difficult, and kind of curious to see what other 'lifehacks' this Taiwanese show highlights.

noasalira

I have to chuckle over this. I learned this when I was in elementary school 45 years ago. I stopped using it because I don't like dog-eared pages with cuts and rips. Thanks for the memories.

ramblnrev

I remember doing this in elementary school...and the teachers HATING it because a bunch of 8 year old's kept ripping their papers to turn in.

Chad Brooks

I learned a variation in Elementary School:

Dog-ear the corner, rip down the middle, and fold the two sides either direction.

trumpetfalcon

Like others have mentioned, I learned this in (high) school from my geometry teacher. The last three steps that Clara demonstrates were not something we did. The basic technique is the same though. I also almost never use scissors for this. Two quick rips with my fingers was all it took.

D Wiz

slow day?

holymogwai

Yeah, I don't think that this is going to be an enlightening tip for most of your readers (the ones educated in American schools anyway.) The next thing we know, you'll be telling us that when we find ourselves without a bookmark, a handy substitute is to fold over a small part of the top corner of the last page we read!

Ciao_Bambina

Well, I think it's cool. Especially given the amount of staple free (japanese style) staplers I've seen for sale recently.

For example ...

[www.uncommongoods.com]

radleyas

Not exactly an epiphany, but it does bring back a few memories.

jbinc1

I learnt this too. Then I learned about grammar.

Anyhow this ancient Taiwanese trick for binding papers actually has its origins in a rural Tennessee elementary school where I learned it.

Hosalabad

I used to use this nifty little origami "paper clip" to hold paper (up to 10 pages) together, but it blocks out quite a large bit of the corner even with very small "paper" clips. I might try to find a guide for it or make one if it's more useful, but for the most part it's more like jut a novelty due to its relative complexity and need for a square piece of paper of any manageable size.

kureshii

"Any sufficiently advanced lifehack is indistinguishable from that old trick you learned back in grade school."

OK, maybe not.

Roy Jacobsen

I remember having a problem with this if I wanted to fold papers back and forth a couple times.

DaoKaioshin

What's old is new again...

applewax

Learned this back in grade school (in the '60s). Is nice to know something stuck in the old brain.

TravelingMan

I read the subject, thought of this method, then clicked the link to see what it was. Made me smile to see exactly what I was thinking of be the solution.

RickS

I learnt this in middle school from my English teacher. She was an odd lady, but then again, what does one expect from parochial schools?

ParaXnoia

There used to be a "stapler" that did this. it simply cut and folded the paper to make a "invisible staple" and hold the sheets together.

Problem is all these are not robust, the sheets get seperated easily.

timgray

Thank goodness. Finally a way to avoid having to get those expensive and hard-to-use paper clips.

edosan

I guess if you make a video of it, anything is new and clever.

aeronaut

Hey I watched this show! Awesome.

Dooga

As a teaching assistant at a university, I have been annoyed by all students that use this method of binding. (Paper clips are also insufficient.) It just doesn't hold up to the page turning and paper shuffling that inevitably occurs during grading. I came -->*<-- this close to subtracting nominal points for improper binding. Instead, I settled for disclaiming liability for lost pages and resulting lower grades (fortunately for students, I never lost any pages, although I came close).

Posco Grubb

@Silver_Back: Ooops! Should've been, "I used to do this IN High School..."

Silver_Back

I used to do this is High School until my teacher wrote, "The next time I see you doing this I'll drop your grade by 10%." From then on I used a stapler. :)

Silver_Back

Is this close to the method used by a "Stitchlock?" I know the idea is the same...

fuchikoma

Here's my McGyver technique on keeping a couple of pages together. Just fold them in the middle. If you can afford to fold an cut the pages you can just as well fold them in the middle or even do two folds for extra security.. ;-)

rawfan

@edosan: lol!

@Chad Brooks: Ironic, my teacher was the one that showed us this life-hack, minus the cutting though.

@applewax: Well said. AKA Circle of life :>

anthonylitz

A ditto on doing this back in school.

Seems everyone I've ever met has a love or hate relationship with this method, but if you have to get your pages together and for some reason you don't have a stapler or clip... you gotta do what you gotta do is what I say.

zianeu

Nice. Get a stapleless stapler.

Myles

Same here - elementary school trick long abandoned.

ukgreg

I bought a paperless stapler from ThinkGeek.com and use it to "wow" my middle school students. Of course, it makes the corner look like crap, though!

Skyler's Daddy

Wow, i guess i am the only one who didn't know about this. I think its very useful, especially when the teacher's stapler is busted.

skatanic

My old math teacher taught me this years ago. Although it isn't very reliable, it get the job done until you can find an actual stapler.

waleed.z

I never learned this. Damn public school education.

FLskydiver

Is the site down for anyone else? I've tried clicking on it twice (once yesterday, once just now) and gotten a WordPress database error both times.

@Silver_Back: What an evil teacher! :P Seriously, though, why would s?he have a problem with it?

@Roy Jacobsen: That's funny!

PS: Sorry if this is a duplicate submission; first one didn't appear to show up.

Voyagerfan5761

Is the site down for anyone else? I've tried clicking on it twice (once yesterday, once just now) and gotten a WordPress database error both times.

@Silver_Back: What an evil teacher! :P Seriously, though, why would s?he have a problem with it?

@Roy Jacobsen: That's funny!

Voyagerfan5761

@FLskydiver: Hey, I remember this from my public school days, thank you very much!

But seriously, just about every teacher I knew HATED this method. And, truth be told, so did I. --The pages never really stay together properly if you're flipping through them.

Tallanvor

Let me add Canadian elementary schools to the list of places where this was common.

Counterglow

@Voyagerfan5761: "Seriously, though, why would she have a problem with it?"

Because this method doesn't work as well as a stapler, that's why. The papers will fall apart after even light use.

Imagine a teacher that gets thirty 10-page documents put together like this.

edosan

talking about my office it is more difficult to procure a pair of scissors than to get a stapler.yet, it is very handy and useful method.

nazier

Got it first try ..priceless may consider keeping broadband with more articles like this...

rtipping

I got a freebie-thingy in a goody bag that was kind of a cross between a hole punch and a stapler that cut and flipped the corner of the page... essentially doing stapleless staples with a quick squeeze.

SinA

That's a trick I learned in middle school. No stapler? Just rip and it'll hold until graded.

Marce