How to convert a list to a list of tuples?

>>> L = [1, "term1", 3, "term2", 4, "term3", 5, "termN"]
# Create an iterator
>>> it = iter(L)
# zip the iterator with itself
>>> zip(it, it)
[(1, 'term1'), (3, 'term2'), (4, 'term3'), (5, 'termN')]

You want to group three items at a time?

>>> zip(it, it, it)

You want to group N items at a time?

# Create N copies of the same iterator
it = [iter(L)] * N
# Unpack the copies of the iterator, and pass them as parameters to zip
>>> zip(*it)