Not the Sharpest Scissors in the Drawer

I love it when one of those things I've always heard (but wondered if it was true) turns out to be true, rather than made up. Seems like it doesn't happen very often.

Marilyn vos Savant's Parade column from last Sunday included a question on whether scissors meant for cutting fabric will really become dull faster if used to cut paper, particularly wrapping paper. Her answer:

Paper typically contains hard ­minerals that aren’t found in fabric, so cutting even ordinary paper will dull blades more than cutting fabric. Wrapping paper is worse, and holiday wrap with all its foil and sparkly accents may be the most damaging of all. Fabric shears are quickly dulled by using them for household purposes, so hide those shears from the rest of the family! ­Cutting fabric (and hair, etc.) ­requires very sharp scissors because the fibers bend and slip away from the blades so easily. (Ever tried cutting a lock of hair?) But scissors used ­mainly for cutting paper don’t need to be sharp. Even ­kiddie scissors work on just about everything. 

How's that for a bunch of related facts I wouldn't have ever come up with -- paper contains more hard minerals than fabric, fabric and hair are harder to cut in the first place because they bend so much, and paper doesn't even require something sharp to cut it.