Do you have a rare but completely useless talent?

[InvisibleTouch]

Mine is (or was) being able to tell if it was sunny or cloudy by the sound of the cars that drove past my bedroom window. Not rainy, mind you, which would be given away by the "wet" sound, but just dry-and-overcast vs. clear-and-sunny. My windowshades at the time closed so completely that no light could enter, so I didn't have visual clues.

It's been many years since I've had the opportunity to excercise the skill, so I've probably lost it by now. But I was irrationally proud of it as a 9-year-old. :)

How about everyone else?

[annabanana]

1. I can repeat what people say while they're still saying it. .

(It really annoys the HELL out of people)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. If you were proficient in a foreign language, you could become a

simultaneous interpreter and make big bucks.

That skill is the one that the interpreters at the UN use, the ones who interpret about one or two words behind the speaker. In addition, most of them grew up in a bilingual environment, either the children of immigrants or the children of an international marriage.

[annabanana]

57. I wish. . . I think a bilingual childhood would be necessary

to do that..

It's the expectation of what the next word is that makes it possible. I think native speakers in any lanaguage learn young enough to hardwire it. .

[CreekDog]

2. In high school I was in the Academic Triathalon and since we all had to be labeled by our expertise

mine was "useless trivia" :wtf:

but cut after cut, they kept me on (until we lost). useless my ass! :rant:

[Symarip]

3. I play trombone

Enough said.

[CreekDog]

4. if it's so rare

how they get those 76 trombones? :yoiks:

[Orrex]

16. I can play 76 trombones

[CreekDog]

18. wow

but at the same time? :wtf:

[Orrex]

20. Of course!

I line them all up, mouthpiece to bell.

And it's not nearly as dirty as it sounds.

[CreekDog]

52. well that's more than i can say!

:rofl: :applause:

[elshiva]

5. I can lick my own boobs.

[Inchworm]

6. Awesome!!!

:rofl:

:*

[elshiva]

12. Yes, indeed.

:hug: :*

[Orrex]

7. K&R

:freak:

[XemaSab]

10. So can Rush Limbaugh

:eyes:

[elshiva]

13. Please don't compare me to Rush Limbaugh.

PLEASE. :cry:

[Orrex]

15. No way--elshiva won't let him anywhere near her

I mean really! :puke:

[elshiva]

17. Thank you, Orrex.

You are a gentleman. :hug:

[madinmaryland]

44. Nice post, FReeper.

:eyes:

[elshiva]

49. Please don't get mad. CreekDog did not mean it that way.

:hug: :loveya:

[madinmaryland]

19. ...

:wow:

[Haole Girl]

21. You didn't!

:rofl:

[CreekDog]

22. the guy on family guy can do that

:shrug:

[elshiva]

23. Yes, I am fat. So what?

:shrug:

[CreekDog]

47. oh shit, i didn't mean that!

:hug:

[elshiva]

48. Thanks, honey.

I like you. :hug:

[CreekDog]

53. i like your name too

:hug:

[Initech]

39. Like this?

[elshiva]

41. Thank you.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[guitar man]

60. Hey, the thread title specifies

"useless" talent.

:evilgrin:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

69. This talent is useless ...

without pictures.

:hi:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. yeah, I show up to work

when i am supposed to

[Orrex]

9. I can juggle five balls

Cue the testicle jokes in three... two...

[flvegan]

11. I can identify almost any car simply from sight.

I can do illuminated taillights in the dark.

Granted, if the car is uber rare or older than the 50's, my abilities diminish greatly.

[sammythecat]

58. That's pretty impressive

They all seem to look very much the same to me anymore.

[Haole Girl]

14. I can impersonate Elvis

This can freak people out, since I usually have a pretty high voice.

:rofl:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. I can sing The Star Spangled Banner one syllable off.

Oh, say can you see by
The dawn's early light, what
So proudly we hailed at
The twilight's last gleaming; whose
Bright stripes and bright stars through
The perilous fight, o'er
The ramparts we watched were
So gallantly streaming, and
The rocket's red glare, the
Bombs bursting in air gave
Proof through the night that
Our flag was still there, oh
Say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o--er
The land of the free and
The home of the brave ---.


You come up one syllable short.

I actually can't sing it the right way any more.

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. I can do that with 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'

Used to get some quizzical looks at games. :D


To the ball game, take meee out
With the crowd, buy me some
Peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don't care
If I ever get back, for it's root, root, root
For the home team, if they don't
Win it's a shame, for it's one
Two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game
Taaaake meeee ouuuuut!


Either Paul Stookey or Peter Yarrow came up with it; I can't remember.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

33. There's one like that for "My Country Tis of Thee"

My country tis-of-thee sweet land
of liberty of thee I sing land where
my fathers died land of
the pilgrims' pride from ev
ry mountainside let freedom
ring

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. I can sing Balkan and Russian folk style

and imitate many kinds of accents, both national and regional.

[hibbing]

25. I can blow air rings

Hi,
I can lay on my back in a pool and blow "air rings" that float all the way to the top. Certainly a useless talent, but I am sure many others can do the same.

Peace

[Neoma]

26. I can do a weird tongue trick.

I'm not sure that's going to be taken the right way. But I can curl my tongue like a three leaf clover...

[hibbing]

29. yes??

Hi,
Once again, your post is pointless without a picture, just saying.

Peace

[Neoma]

35. Once again? I've only posted once.

But, you insisted.

[hibbing]

40. hehehe

Hi,
Cool! Thanks for posting that, I appreciate it!

Peace

[alphafemale]

28. I can ride a unicycle

[hibbing]

31. nifty

Hi,
That is cool. How long did it take you to learn to do this? Do you still do it?

Peace

[alphafemale]

36. It took quite awhile to learn.

You can fall forward and back or side to side or in just about any direction. I learned to to it as a teenager.

I tried it again not all that long ago when someone had one available (I forget why) but I was still able to do it fairly well.

It's also a tiring thing to do. There is no coasting on a unicycle.

[Red State Rebel]

59. Me too! It is hard to learn!!

I bought one from the Sears Catalog when I was about 12 and would practice by holding onto the low ceiling beams in the basement of our house. I got to where I could ride that thing all over our big subdivision. Got some crazy looks!

[alphafemale]

62. I really banged myself up learning.

I did much better after throwing away the "training poles" or whatever they were called. They didn't help at all and I nearly impaled myself on them a time or two. :rofl:

[BlueJazz]

30. I can tell what the time is +/- 6 minutes day or night. Been tested many times..always very close.

BUT...it's totally useless now ..my watch gets the time even closer. :)

[LeftyFingerPop]

37. I can name every country in the world in under 2 seconds.

[Initech]

38. I have now internationally renowned beer chugging skills.

Really, I can take a 24 oz beer and chug it in maybe less than 10 seconds flat. Has to be in a glass or bottle, though, I have a hard time chugging beer out of a can.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

42. I can dislocate my left shoulder at will

I gained this skill after unwillfully dislocated my left shoulder in a karate match.

I use it to freak out my younger sister. I've been doing it since she was 8. She's 21 now and it's still as useful as ever.

[mainegreen]

65. Dammit, one of my bests friends growing up could do that.

He'd always do that too, when we were drinking.
Just for the hell of it.

Freaked me right the fuck out.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

66. It's a good skill

[ChazII]

43. Can mirror write in cursive as well as

write upside down and backward in cursive. Learned that during a teacher strike when I was in 7th grade. It does impress my 3rd grade students.

[seaker]

51. Impresses me

and I teach 4th grade!

[Tom Kitten]

45. I have double jointed wrists, hands and fingers!

I can contort them in such a way that makes most people go "eww, how can you do that?"

[Lyric]

46. I can fully bend my left pinky finger independently of my left ring finger.

At the big middle joint too, not at the tiny top joint. This is harder to do than most people realize, as for the vast majority of people, the pinky and the ring finger always bend together.

I can only do it on the left, though--my right pinky is "normal" and bends in tandem with my ring finger.

It always freaks people out when I show them and then they try it, only to fail. Most people never realize that they *can't* do it, lol.

[MikeH]

50. I can multiply numbers in my head

I pretty well know just about all the products of two digit numbers, and I can sometimes multiply three digit numbers in a few seconds.

In school I was known for being very good at being able to do problems with numbers in my head.

I pretty much know which numbers are prime all the way up to 10000 and beyond (though sometimes I might have to think for a few seconds about some particular number), and know what the factors are of those that are not prime (or know one of the factors and can figure out the rest). I was always fascinated by prime numbers and properties of numbers, and number theory has always been one of my interests, along with other branches of mathematics.

[Evoman]

54. I can smell if tape has been used in any room within an hour or so.

Depends on the tape as to how long I can smell it.

I have a really sensitive nose, but it's ridiculous how good I am a smelling tape. Scotch tape is especially strong. I remember one time my girlfriend was baking stuff for christmas. So basically, the whole house smelled like cakes and cookies (she even burned one batch). I came in to the apartment and said, "good, you wrapped the presents for the kids". She asked me how I knew, since the presents were in the bedroom. I smelled the tape. She had wrapped them about 2 hours earlier.

It's uncanny.

Oh yeah, and I also have a talent for being shit on by birds. I've been shit on by over a dozen birds under different circumstances, in at least 4 different countries. Not kidding you. I've also two birds land on my head, and 1 crow who followed me for about 6 blocks, while cawing at me. He would fly to the tree ahead of me and caw. Then the next tree, and caw. Weird birds.

[alphafemale]

61. My sense of smell used to be a lot stronger.

I once could hardly bear to walk down the "laundry" aisle. My sense of smell is still pretty powerful but not to the point where I'm constantly overwhelmed anymore.

[Brother Buzz]

55. I can locate a swarm of honey bees before they arrive

It takes a bit of luck and a bit of intuition to be in the right place, but once I locate and notice the scout bees dancing in the air that certain way I know the swarm will arrive in less then two hours. Sometimes I misread everything and the swarm appears then buzzes right on by like an express train.

[Aristus]

56. I can sing "The Rainbow Connection" in the voices of all of the Muppets.

Useless...and pretty geeky, too! B-)

[kedrys]

63. I can hang a spoon on the end of my nose

Not much use unless everybody at the table is drunk and giddy. :P

[mwooldri]

64. Memorizing the local bus timetable.

Not just for one or two routes, no.

The whole bloody bus company. Along with which particular vehicles and drivers would be operating said routes.

Now isn't that nerdy?

Mark.

[mainegreen]

67. I can make a wind instrument with my hands.

I can get around 6 basic notes at best.

[astral]

68. I can pick things up with my toes.