I've seen extension cords - 18-AWG zip cord home made ones held together with MASKING tape (the paper stuff).
A few drywallers I've seen had the cheapest residential grade extension cords ever made (Kopp discontiued that line at least two years ago). The cheap thermoplastic plug was close to no longer existant and they too had repaired it with paper masking tape.
I've seen two of those Y cords. One was at the home of a NYC friend of mine (taped to the extremely ugly dark 70ies kitchen paneling) feeding the cordless phone base station and some other lightweight stuff. The other one was at a teacher's office at Abraham Lincoln High School, Bklyn. Can't remember if it was feeding anything at the moment.
