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This man uses scissors to eat his spaghetti

This spaghetti-eating hack is going viral, but it's actually been around for a really long time.
/ Source: TODAY

It takes great skill to eat spaghetti gracefully, but one viral video of a man using scissors to expedite the eating process is dividing the internet.

In the video, Dean Prince of Newfoundland, Canada, is seen sitting at a dinner table with a plate of spaghetti in front of him. Using a fork in his right hand, Prince picks up the spaghetti and then uses a pair of scissors in his left hand to cut the strands of dangling pasta into a more manageable bite.

The hack bypasses the many messy twirls and saucy slurps that happen to even the most skilled of spaghetti eaters.

While Prince has since earned the nickname "Spaghetti Scissors Man," he didn't invent the hack. The exact origins are unclear, but it has been around for at least a century.

Actor Buster Keaton, who was best known for his work in silent films, used a pair of scissors as a utensil while eating a plate of spaghetti in the 1918 slapstick comedy, "The Cook."

Last week, Korean-American restaurateur David Chang tweeted, "Koreans did this first." Scissors are commonly used as serving utensils in many Korean restaurants, including at Chang's Kawi in New York City.

Prince's video convinced some people that this is a revolution in Italian dining, while others were firmly against adding scissors to their spaghetti-eating routines.

"I feel like a whole new world just opened up?!? #spaghettiscissors" tweeted actress and director Elizabeth Banks.

Others heartily agreed.

However, there were some who questioned whether the scissors were truly necessary.

One person tweeted that you could simply crack the noodles in half before cooking them to avoid overly long strands — but very few chefs would ever advise doing this, unless you're preparing food for a small child.

And some just weren't having it.

Sunday TODAY's Willie Geist and NBC's Harry Smith discussed the method during this week's Highs and Lows segment. Neither of them were entirely on board with the idea.

"That's the only remaining question," Willie said. "Where have those scissors been?"