Odd or useless skills

[hyphenate]

I'm sure everyone has at least one useless talent that makes them stand out, perhaps even more than one.

In my own case, I have a couple of them. The first id the ability to write or read upside down, sideways, or even backwards--with both hands. Of course, my writing with my less dominant hand takes a little while longer to do, but it is legible, and I can put a pen in both hands, and simultaneousy write with both at the same time.

A second talent is a family trait--I know my brother and sister have the same "gift": we can all pick up things with our feet--things like paper, writing implements, and other small items.


My biggest talent, which might fall under the category of useless, is my near encyclopedic knowledge of TV from the early 60s through the early 90s. There are now too many stations and shows to be able to do that nowadays, and far too many dumb reality shows in place of drama or other scripted television. Name a show, and I can usually tell you most of the main cast, other roles they might have had, and any gossip about them within a given period. While I might be able to use this on a game show, there is little call for such a massive hunk of knowledge, though it is a decent converation topic at the least.

Anyone!! Tell us your relatively useless skills!

[digonswine]

1. I can pop my ankle joint so loud it sounds like we're taking enemy fire.

This grosses out some, it seems, from my experience.

[Suich]

8. Welcome to DU, digonswine!

:party: :party: :party:

[digonswine]

22. Thank you!

[TorchTheWitch]

36. feels so damn great though doesn't it?

Do you have tendonitis in your ankle? I've had it one of mine for years and years, and nothing feels better than rotating it when I first wake up and getting that really loud pop. Ahhhhhhhh... feels wonderful.

[digonswine]

41. No tendinitus

I think I developed this skill after my first on countless ankle-rolls.

[ohiosmith]

2. I can identify alcoholic beverages by brand after only one sip. A couple of years ago I correctly

named six different vodkas at the Russian Tea Room in New York. It blew the bartender away. I can also do beer, bourbon and some scotch. I'm not so good at wines.

[KurtNYC]

11. you are a super taster, more rare in men than women

people make good money with that skill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

http://ezinearticles.com/?Ever-Consider-a-Taste-Testing-Job?&id=6140778

[LynneSin]

3. I can chug just about any kind of potable liquid regardless of how it tastes

Might not seem like a handy trick but when you need to down 24oz of chalky crap for an Xray, the doc gave me an hour to 'get the stuff in you any way you can'. I had it down in 10 seconds. He said he never saw anyone who could get the liquid down that quickly.

My only trick is I prefer room temperature. Anything too cold will give me a brain freeze. I was also a champion beer chugger - usually the anchor of any beer chugging relay contest.

[ohiosmith]

5. Champion Beer Chugger!

My hero! :toast:

[Tikki]

6. OMG I get brain freeze SO BAD that it has gone down..

the back of my head into my neck and upper shoulders a few times....
I pretty much drink everything cold through a straw now-a-days.

And mint flavoring can set it off, also.

Tikki

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

45. An enviable skill for colonoscopy prep

a most unpleasant form of binge-drinking.

:hi:

[Tikki]

4. I can flip you off with every finger on both hands (except thumbs) but,..

I don't really mean it.


Tikki

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. I am in AWE!!!! ... ... ... ... ... ... ... x 10!!!!! n/t ---- on edit ... ... ... x 8!!!!! n/t

[struggle4progress]

7. Me cans posting on the internets!

[KurtNYC]

10. i can fold my left thumb back 90 degrees

only the left one

[Chan790]

12. Eidetic textual recall.

I can recall virtually everything I've read since the age of about 15 (it's about a 15 year moving window, I lose the stuff on the far end unless it was important or meaningful) just about word-for-word verbatim.

I've never had to study for anything a day in my life. I do have to constantly mentally-check that I'm not plagiarizing something off the top of my head though.

I know what you're thinking. That seems like a useful skill...except that I can tell you what was on my grocery list from March 3rd, 2009 {eggs, almond milk, lightbulbs, pasta sauce and 13 other items} but the trade-off is that I can't remember where I set down my house keys 40 minutes ago.

[frogmarch]

13. I can talk with two voices

at the same time. They both say the same thing, of course. :-)

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I can hold my little finger and index fingers together and then bend my middle

finger and pass it through the opening between the two while holding them together. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do this totally useless trick due to arthritis, but I've never met anyone else who can do it.

[Chan790]

15. I can do that but it hurts a little.

Unless I misunderstand what you're describing. You hold the two fingers together so they form a small triangular opening, then thread the middle finger through while holding the ring finger straight, right?

[Arkansas Granny]

16. It sounds like you're doing it right.

[distantearlywarning]

28. I can actually do that too.

But I have very flexible, dextrous hands. I can pretty much effortlessly do the 'live long and prosper' thing with both hands, hold the first three fingers together while easily moving the pinky, hold the last three fingers together while easily moving the forefinger, and so forth.

[Duer 157099]

32. I can do that easily too, both hands. n/t

[applegrove]

17. I once threw a frisby and a foot ball to two different people standing 10 feet apart from me, and

each other, and nailed both "shots". Haven't had occassion to do that again. LOL!

[Kat45]

18. Mine is silly. It's about All in the Family, so you might appreciate it.

I love that show and know it well. As you know, Archie and Edith sing "Those Were the Days" during the opening credits. For various reasons, they recorded it four different times through the years while the show was running. I can recognize which opening it is (the first, second, third, or fourth) by just listening to the song (not looking at the TV to see what they're wearing).

I've also always been really good at identifying the plot of each episode almost immediately after the show starts, though the program has been out of circulation for so long (until recently) so I'm a bit out of practice.

[woo me with science]

21. That's impressive.

I was always proud of myself for being able to recognize the later ones because Edith enunciated "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great" so clearly. I suspected they'd had complaints early on that people didn't understand what she was singing.

But I never picked out FOUR versions!

[Kat45]

26. You're suspicion is correct.

People were asking what that line of the song was because they couldn't understand it. That's exactly why they recorded that new one.

[woo me with science]

29. Cool to know.

Thanks! :hi:

[snagglepuss]

19. I can retract the tip of my tongue to make it appeared forked.

How cool is that:)

[DevonRex]

20. I remember conversations word for word. Nt

[IcyPeas]

23. HEY - I can do mirror writing too. here's an interesting wiki:

I used to drive my brother crazy back in the 70s when he was in the navy. I would write him long letters(backwards in cursive) on black paper with silver ink so he couldn't hold it up to the light - he loved it. then I would also write them in a spiral pattern to make it even more difficult.

what you do is even more far out!

this is from wiki:
. . . . . Research suggests that the ability to do mirror writing is probably inherited and caused by atypical language organization in the brain.<1> It is not known how many people in the population inherit the ability of mirror writing (an informal Australian newspaper experiment identified 10 true mirror-writers in a readership of 65,000<2>). Half of the children of people with the ability inherit it. There are more left-handed mirror writers than right-handed ones, probably because left-handed people tend to have atypical language centers in their brain. 15% of left-handed people have the language centres in both halves of their brain. The cerebral cortex (thin layer of dense brain cells covering the whole brain) and motor homunculus (relates to voluntary movement) are affected by this causing them to be able to read and write backwards quite naturally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_writing
:toast:

[hyphenate]

25. And I'm a leftie, too

But thanks for the info--it's all so fascinating. I always said I didn't have to worry if I broke my arm because I could write with the other one!

I would think that many ambidextrous people could write backwards and forwards, too. I find I use my right hand on certain tasks as well, like bowling, for example. It feels different if I try it with the other hand.

[Duer 157099]

31. Hey me too. I just started doing it as a teenager

Didn't take practice or anything, just started writing backwards (mirror) in cursive. It came so effortlessly, it was really bizarre. Haven't tried it lately I wonder if I can still do it?

I always knew my brain was atypical.

[alphafemale]

24. For me writing backwards with the left hand is something I can do without thinking about it.

I doubt I'm a freak.

It's just not something that would naturally occur for a person to try within the natural course of their life. lol

[BlueJazz]

27. Can tap out 4/4 time with my right hand, 3/4 time with my Left hand and 5/4 time with my left foot

(At the same time..of course)

[ThoughtCriminal]

30. I still know how to use a slide rule

Our school taught all 7th graders how to use them in science class. Within a year or two after I learned, they discontinued the practice.

[Duer 157099]

33. I can wiggle my left ear.

Not the right one though, just the left. Like Samantha on Bewitched does with her nose, but with my ear.

[trof]

43. I can wiggle both, either together or one at a time.

:-)

[Duer 157099]

34. I can see stereo images without special glasses

It took awhile but I trained my eyes to be able to look at stereo images and see the 3D pop out. Both ways, convergent and divergent (meaning, the focal point is either in front of or behind the target).

Sometimes I can even make two non-stereo images look like stereo, if they are similar enough.

[arikara]

35. I can click the knuckles on my toes really loud

it sounds like someone drumming their fingers on a table. When I was a kid I would sit and click my toes without realizing it and the sound absolutely drove my father nuts. He would say "Listen! What the hell is that!". Everyone would stop talking, I would stop clicking and we would all listen intently. After awhile the family racket including the clicking would start up again. This went on I'm sure for a couple of years before we figured it out, my poor Dad.

[TorchTheWitch]

37. I can sleep standing up

I don't recommend it though and it certainly isn't good restful sleep or last very long. I also have to be leaning against something... I think. I'm always afraid I'll do it in the shower and end up drowning myself, so every time I take a shower when I'm really tired I make sure to never just stand there doing nothing under the spray... wash, rinse, and get the hell out.

[Awsi Dooger]

38. Well, I can name every Kentucky Derby winner

Beginning with Aristides in 1875. In high school I read a few Derby books and for some reason memorized the list.

The topic comes up once or twice per year. In Las Vegas I've received many comps from racebook managers on Derby Day. They'll grab the souvenir glass with all the names and quiz me on several. And they invariably make the same mistake, picking the early years under a false impression they will be the most difficult. Just the opposite. Those names roll off my tongue, like a poem I've known for more than 30 years.

The problem names are the recent ones, the additions. I have to stop and think about 1996, or 2005...

Who the heck won that year? We've had so many nondescript winners they run together.

Every year after the Derby I recite the list and add the new name. This year's crop was ghastly, one horrible name after another. I hate the name Animal Kingdom but tonight while taking my nightly walk I ran the list three different times. Like an old friend with a new wart.

[hyphenate]

39. Your retention level is very high!

I wouldn't be able to do that! Do images of the horses come to mind as you list them? What color was the majority of the horses? How many of then have a white blaze on their forheads?

In college, I took a class about the UK and its history from 1066 to 1660. One of the final tests was to name the rulers of England from that time. I created a mnemonic to memorize them, and I can still name them, even 35 years later. It's getting duller to recall them, though, so I have to write it down again.

With the TV trivia, I can actually create a mental image and use that to remember the actors and and the show. It's pretty interesting to just pop an image and come up with the info!

[Taverner]

40. I can remember any phone number forever if I make a point of it

But I cannot do the same thing with names

[trof]

42. I can tie a knot in a cherry stem in my mouth.

Used to call it "The Virgin Test" and challenge my date to do it.
;-)

[IDemo]

44. I can tell you the day of the week you were born (or any other date)

[pink-o]

46. I have a bunch of useless, anachronistic skills....

Like putting the needle on a record in exactly the place I want it to be. Even the middle of a song. Oh, joy, so relevant for the digital age.

Also, I have Perfect Pitch. Ask me to sing a note and I'll nail it. Now, this doesn't mean I sing on tune, only that I'm the first one to recognize it when I don't. It used to mean everyone would give me their acoustic guitars to tune up when we were outside and no one brought a pitch pipe. And in choir, they'd get me to start any song a Capella before the instruments came in behind us.

Big Whoo. I'd trade it away for some real singing talent, of which I'm horribly lacking. And once again, with digital upon us, Perfect Pitch is Perfectly Superfluous.