SeegarsInSC

I’ve been looking at the paperclip as a improvisational tool to be used in place of something else. Something that can be good enough until a proper fastener or tool is available.

I’m all about macgyverisms, those little ingeniously improvised solutions to problems.

I’m not making a bomb out of chewing gum and tinfoil or anything, but it’s an interesting enough subject and worth spending some time on. The subject of paper clips not bombs, anyway…

I picked up this little nugget from tenfactsabout.com:

During the Second World War, wearing a paperclip could have got you into serious trouble. The people living in countries under Nazi German occupation were forbidden from wearing badges or pins depicting national symbols. The paperclip, a seemingly meaningless piece of stationery, became used as a symbol of unity due to the fact that it is used for binding things together. Wearing paperclips became banned once the Germans cottoned on to the reasons for them being worn.

After the war, it was believed that Norweigans wore paper clips during the war as a sign of national pride because it was a Norweigan invention. In fact, the information that the paper clip was a Norweigan invention, although incorrect, wasn’t even widely known during the war. People just wore paper clips to symbolise unity and solidarity.

Vi holder sammen. Norwegian for “we are bound together”. I love that.

May 29 is Paperclip Day

Unity and solidarity. I found that very interesting.

Seegars