# "I can't..(fill in the blank) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123 "2021-04-16T02:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/41 "2021-04-16T14:02:18Z")
Ooga-chaka, ooga-chaka! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/42 "2021-04-16T14:06:18Z")
I can do a lot of things; in fact most all the things in this thread. But I have a horrible sense of direction. Nearly to the point of disaster at times. I also can’t find anything. It’s like I have selective vision and whatever I’m looking for becomes invisible to me until I go to look for something else and it magically appears again. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/43 "2021-04-16T14:07:17Z")
[I can’t stop my leg!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsTjAOOIxqQ) ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/44 "2021-04-16T14:55:54Z")
“I cain’t, Sergeant Carter; I just cain’t.” ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/45 "2021-04-16T15:09:47Z")
Until I received a rice steamer, I could _not_ make rice. Like a few others, I cannot knit. I also cannot crochet more than a few rows. I cross stitch, embroider, hardanger like nobodies business, though. Any maths where a number is replaced with a letter? Nope. I cannot do logic problems. I also cannot speak in a linear fashion. I have never met a tangent I didn’t like. I cannot draw or paint. I am envious of those who can. I cannot play any brass instruments. I don’t have the ability to create the embouchure to generate any type of tone. Despite being fairly tall (5’9" until a few years ago, damn getting old), I cannot play basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/46 "2021-04-16T15:16:27Z")
Anything that requires recognizing the beat of the music. I can’t dance, sing, and clap my hands to the music. And I can’t play any instrument, obviously. There are other things I don’t do well, but that’s most of the things I can do at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/48 "2021-04-16T15:42:41Z")
I can’t wink. I also can’t figure out any number of things on my computer/phone. But my disinterests likely keeps me from clicking around on them to see what can be done, but isn’t indicated in plain language/notices that I consider intelligible/intuitive. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/49 "2021-04-16T15:51:05Z")
I just cannot learn French, despite living in Montreal for over 50 years and really trying. I can sort of speak it, but I cannot understand the spoken language. I have never done a correct pushup, chinned myself or done a roll. I cannot figure out how to use my smartphone. Texting is impossible (keys too small) and, while I can take photos, I cannot figure out how to get the pictures off the phone. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/50 "2021-04-16T15:54:01Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > . I can just barely say the word “rural”, but only sometimes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6kZBJs527-k/maxresdefault.jpg "The Rural Juror | 30 Rock") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kZBJs527-k) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/51 "2021-04-16T15:58:51Z")
I cannot whistle- this is because my lower front incisors came in weird. I cannot dance- I have really poor dexterity. I cannot roll my r’s either. I have a terrible sense of direction. In the first Vampire The Masquerade pc game, it took me a half hour at least to find my way out of the mines after I’d killed the evil vampire there. I was using the automap function at the time. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/52 "2021-04-16T16:06:41Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I can’t recognize faces, which is a real thing Me too. I once worried about the possibility that I wouldn’t recognize my parents at the airport. That’s kind of extreme for me (and no it didn’t happen, I just worried that it would), but put a colleague from work in the supermarket, hence out of context, and they’re all waving and hello’ing me and I’m like “umm, I think I know you, from somewhere?” > [@](#): > > It makes watching movies fun Oh god. “Stop! Put it on pause! Isn’t she dead?? Isn’t that the secretary who had the letter? What do you mean she didn’t die? Then who was that in the elevator?” I am a source of a great many eyerolls among the people I’ve watched movies with. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/53 "2021-04-16T16:23:27Z")
I’m surprised this one isn’t up there yet. I can_not_ sing. I know the reason why, as well, so I can shut up people who tell me I could if i tried, or “had the right teacher” or whatever. My voice is pitched lower through bone conduction in my head, by about 1 & 1/2 steps, than it is pitched through air conduction, and therefore, the way it sounds to anyone else. So, if I hear a pitch on a pitchpipe, and match my voice to it-- at least, the way it sounds to me-- it’s off by a step and a half to everyone else, and that’s pretty terrible sounding. Yes, I suppose I could learn to sing everything so it sounded 1 & 1/2 steps off to me, and would therefore sound right to everyone else, but I have no interest in doing so. The only singing in public I ever do is chanting Torah, and that is just my voice, which doesn’t have to match anything, so it can be in literally any key-- it can even jump around and change keys, and for some people, it does. No one cares. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/54 "2021-04-16T16:23:56Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Me too. I once worried about the possibility that I wouldn’t recognize my parents at the airport. That’s kind of extreme for me (and no it didn’t happen, I just worried that it would), but put a colleague from work in the supermarket, hence out of context, and they’re all waving and hello’ing me and I’m like “umm, I think I know you, from somewhere?” Have to deal with that a lot. I’ve become pretty good at remembering particular facial details to help recognize people, but change the environment I’m used to seeing them in and then it all becomes a blur. It’s particularly difficult with women who change their appearance a lot with different hair styles and color and makeup ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/55 "2021-04-16T16:36:03Z")
I can sing. I can play bass. I cannot do both at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/56 "2021-04-16T16:37:17Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I can _not_ sing. Yah, me too! Not for the reasons you describe, to the best of my knowledge. I have actually had lessons. I trained as an actor and voice/singing was one of the subjects. The instructor is a well known pro coach. He started the class saying, “I can teach anyone to sing.” I showed him! Which is somewhat curious. As to rhythm, I am decent at dance, and acquitted myself in dance performing in musicals. And as to vocal production, (projection, elocution, moving my voice around, etc.) I’m kinda good and considered teaching. But finding the right pitch in rhythm for singing? My brain is missing that part. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/57 "2021-04-16T16:45:28Z")
I’ve never had a problem playing guitar and singing at the same time, but based on limited experience fooling around on my son’s bass it seem like it would be hard to play and sing at the same time. I was amazed when the kid wanted to play and sing both at the recital after around 3 months of lessons; he was 10 at the time. He did it, though. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/58 "2021-04-16T16:49:21Z")
I can’t even talk and play at the same time. Audience members would come up to the bandstand during a set (usually at a wedding) and request a tune. Since I was playing, all I could do was stare at them and nod. They probably thought I was “special.” ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/59 "2021-04-16T16:55:21Z")
I can’t and never could whistle the “correct way” through pursed lips. I can only manage by more or less imitating the sound by the use of sharp sibilant “S” sounds by gently exhaling through a calibrated gap between my upturned tongue and the roof of my mouth just behind my front teeth. > [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > I can’t dance. Period. Whenever I try, I look like a whale out of water. I’m only half-joking when I say I’d rather spend several years in a Siberian gulag than to have others put the spotlight on me on the dance floor. Man oh man is that ever me. Wedding receptions have my anxiety levels up to the point I’m about shitting myself. I have to keep moving around eating, talking to different people etc. to stay “busy” enough so as not to be a target for somebody ( and it’s always the usual suspects ) who try to literally drag me out to the dance floor. The more alcohol they’ve had, the worse it gets. They never prevail, thanks to my determination, which thankfully, so far, has not had to employ nastiness, but quite close to it. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/60 "2021-04-16T17:23:48Z")
That’s me. I play bass at church, and have never sung the congregational songs at the same time as playing the bass. It just doesn’t work. I watch in envy as musicians play all kinds of crazy improvisation all the while looking at the audience, carrying on a conversation, then singing along with the music. ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/61 "2021-04-16T17:24:12Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Man oh man is that ever me. Wedding receptions have my anxiety levels up to the point I’m about shitting myself. I have to keep moving around eating, talking to different people etc. to stay “busy” enough so as not to be a target for somebody ( and it’s always the usual suspects ) who try to literally drag me out to the dance floor. The more alcohol they’ve had, the worse it gets. They never prevail, thanks to my determination, which thankfully, so far, has not had to employ nastiness, but quite close to it. I feel for you man. Fortunately for me, thanks to keeping an intentionally tiny circle of friends, I’ve never been invited to the weddings of any of them 😁, and the only wedding I’ve gone to in my life was that of my cousin, which I couldn’t really turn down because they were family. And even at her wedding, I was hanging out in a dark corner with my brother, sipping on cocktails and hoping nobody on the dance floor will find us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123.md?page=4)