# Are you an extra-specialist at something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929 "2010-06-12T16:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/21 "2010-06-13T21:59:03Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Can you play “Axel F” on one? That was my crowning achievement with it…such as it is. 🙂 Did it sound like Axel F to anyone but you? I can certainly get a very wide range of harmonics out of the harp by moving my tongue and expanding and contracting the back of my throat, but I’m not sure I could get the full range of notes to make up the Axel F tune, simple as it is. When I was a teenager I thought I could play tunes on the harp, but later realised that what I thought I was playing was made up of harmonics that were too quiet for anyone outside my own skull to hear, and a lot of wishful thinking. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/22 "2010-06-13T22:19:12Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Did it sound like Axel F to anyone but you? Actually, it apparently did, since at least a few people recognized it. I won’t say it sounded _good_, by any means, but it was apparently identifiable. It’s entirely possible they just picked up on the rhythm, though–the song was extremely popular in my neck of the woods at the time, so it probably wasn’t hard to figure out what I was mangling. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/23 "2010-06-14T15:18:13Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Ah, you attained Jedi status in Snark. You have done well, Grasshopper. 😛 Apparently, **eleanorigby** ’s special talent is scrambling metaphors? I don’t know if I’d call it being a specialist, but I’m decently good at racquetball. It’s not a skill that pays all that well, though.☹ Still - if the pro racquetball circuit ever needs bodies, I want to be there! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/24 "2010-06-14T18:20:41Z")
I can edit and proofread just about anything very quickly and accurately. ---
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/25 "2010-06-15T03:03:47Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Yeah, yeah, yeah. > Can you figure out a 15% tip on a steak dinner without whipping out a calculator? > Well can you? > 🆒 What, you only tip 15% on a steak dinner???!!eleven!? You are the scum of the earth!!! Ducks, runs, and warms up the popcorn popper 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/26 "2010-06-15T03:26:11Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Fields of endeavor that I might have been marginally “extra specialist” in at one time or another might include: > > – Bowie knife collecting > – Jaques Staunton Chess Set collecting > – “Cool School” jazz record collecting I know a whole bunch about the music of the early 1930s - the post-jazz, pre-swing sounds. I got into it specifically because all the jazz books I read as a kid skipped over it, saying it wasn’t worth listening to. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929/27 "2010-06-15T12:09:25Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > I know a whole bunch about the music of the early 1930s - the post-jazz, pre-swing sounds. I got into it specifically because all the jazz books I read as a kid skipped over it, saying it wasn’t worth listening to. Impressive! I applaud your specializing there. What label do you prefer for that segment of music history? “Post-Jazz Pre-Swing” seems a mouthful. Who are some bands you prefer in that era? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-an-extra-specialist-at-something/542929.md?page=1)