# "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:** 4
**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, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/62 "2021-04-16T17:44:26Z")
> [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > 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. I truly don’t understand why people who enjoy dancing feel the need to drag those of us who don’t onto the dance floor. We’re not bothering them, just leave us the fuck alone and enjoy swaying to the music all you want. Like **BrickBat,** I’ve come close to some really ugly scenes at wedding receptions because people won’t take a polite “no thank you” as a legitimate response to the command “Get up here and dance.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/63 "2021-04-16T19:06:49Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I can’t even I find myself putting info into those places that are specifically reserved for me to do that. It seems I am always drawing a … a … what is the word? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/64 "2021-04-16T19:30:53Z")
Like others, I have trouble distinguishing similar faces in movies. If there are two females in a movie, why are both cast as pretty, thin brunettes with short hair and similar voices? And I cannot speak while playing a musical instrument. I was once in a play and was required to speak while playing violin. My speech wound up sounding like lyrics of the song I was playing. And I can neither throw nor catch a ball, except “like a girl.” I blame my father and older brother, who never played catch with me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/65 "2021-04-16T22:33:53Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If you have trouble not breathing in water, recreational swimming probably isn’t for you, but you might want to practice that ice bucket thing just to learn a useful skill in case you ever find yourself in water. But I wonder if you lack the [mammalian diving reflex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex) that: Wow, I didn’t know that was a thing, and yes, I don’t have it. When I submerge myself under water I feel immediate panic and pressure to breathe in. I do swim, though. I just plug my nose when I go underwater. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/66 "2021-04-16T22:51:16Z")
I can’t snap my fingers I can’t keep an omelette together - I like to claim I invented the “scramble” before it had a name I can’t not laugh until tears pour down my cheeks when anyone brings up the story of how I crop-dusted two co-workers 25 years ago. I’m cracking up right now all over again. I can’t watch myself getting a blood draw or look at an IV in me. In someone else, wife, son, no problem. In me, I immediately get queasy. ---
**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, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/67 "2021-04-16T22:56:04Z")
I didn’t have a problem watching a blood draw until a tech warned me not to. Since then I can’t even look at someone else getting it. ---
**Author:** ![Dorabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f08c70/32.png) [@Dorabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorabella)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/68 "2021-04-16T23:12:05Z")
I can’t blow bubbles with bubble gum. I haven’t tried since I was a child and that was a very long time ago, but I was rubbish at it then. I can’t snap my fingers either. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/69 "2021-04-17T02:07:35Z")
I have to keep explaining to church choir directors that my Siamese would probably be a better addition to the choir than I would be. I also have a terrible sense of direction. I can get lost with a map in my hand. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/70 "2021-04-17T04:39:06Z")
Okay, so there are a lot of trees, right? Some have leaves, and some have needles, and the white ones are birches. Oh, and the hockey logo ones are maple. And the ones by my house whose dry leaves shake in the wind are beech. Beyond that ¯ \_(ツ)\_/¯ ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/71 "2021-04-17T11:00:01Z")
I’m fairly athletic, but I never could master: - Throwing a tight spiral - Rolling a nice hook (bowling) Neither is from lack of trying. mmm ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/72 "2021-04-17T15:35:21Z")
I cannot draw a realistic picture of anything to save my life. It seems to be a genetic talent that I just lack. My younger daughter can pick up a pencil & a paper napkin & within seconds turn out a sketch that is not only recognizable but good. I have no idea how she does it. This is probably a visual equivalent of being tone deaf? Which I am not, by the way: I can play bass & sing at the same time; have done so in many working bands… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/73 "2021-04-17T17:14:34Z")
I can’t tie an apron or smock behind my back. I used to be able to but now it somehow confuses me too much. I can do the first “right-over-left” knot but then I can’t do the tying the loops together part. I have to pull the knot-tying over to the far left or right where I can see it and then the strings are too long because it’s not tied right in the center (in back). ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/74 "2021-04-17T17:46:17Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > Also, crochet. I don’t know that I would argue that most people can do it, but I would think most people can do it if they’re taught how. I can knit, braid, macrame, and do cross stitch and fiddly origami, so I don’t generally have problems with fine motor stuff/following instructions. But for whatever reason, I just can’t get my head around crochet. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried. I probably actually have a crochet hook in the drawer next to me and maybe I’ll try AGAIN. It’s absolutely frustrating because I can’t see any reason I should have such difficulty with it, but… I do. Maybe I need to find an actual human person to teach me instead of relying on books/YouTube/Googling “How to crochet.” And I’m the exact opposite! I’ve had three people try to teach me to knit, but it never really clicked (heh) for me. I can crochet like a demon, though. My older sister taught me how to do a granny square when I was in my teens, and my first project was an afgan. After that I branched out and taught myself. When I was on jury duty in downtown L.A. decades ago, I walked over to J Town for lunch. Afterwards, I browsed in Kinokuniya and found all these Japanese crochet books with beautiful patterns for lace-like pieces. I bought up all the had. I’ve made Irish crochet tops, shawls, tons of baby wear (including stuffed toys). But don’t ask me to knit. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/75 "2021-04-17T17:49:40Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](#): > > > > Even though I am a _Star Trek_ fan, I cannot do the Vulcan V-shaped “live long and prosper” salute. The way the ligaments and webbing on my hands are structured just don’t allow for it. > > I can’t do it either. I can only do it with one hand. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/76 "2021-04-17T18:23:13Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I can’t braid my hair or put barrettes in it, or create any style fit to be seen in public. My hair does not _want_ to do those things. I always thought it just wasn’t long enough, but it’s very long now and NOPE. Still not having it. I can’t either (well, now my hair is very short), but the issue is that my hair is very thick (many hpsi – hairs per square inch), very fine-textured, and perfectly straight. Wavy, coarse-textured hair stays fastened, mine slides out. Yours may be like that. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/77 "2021-04-17T22:05:18Z")
I can’t squat with my feet flat on the floor (this is an issue for skiing, it turns out) and I can’t sing in tune. I also can’t work out when it’s my turn to speak when in a conversation with multiple people (it’s never my turn), and I can’t do small talk to any decent degree. This is a much bigger problem in my life. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/78 "2021-04-17T22:25:09Z")
I can whistle for my dog, but I can’t whistle a tune. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/79 "2021-04-17T22:32:30Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > I cannot draw a realistic picture of anything to save my life. It seems to be a genetic talent that I just lack. I agree, it could be genetic. Both of my parents were artists, and I could draw realistically from a very early age. In kindergarten we had to draw a Fairy Godmother, and I was the only kid who drew realistic boobs on her (I had been to the art museum, so knew what boobs looked like). ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/80 "2021-04-17T22:40:57Z")
I cannot do a pull-up, nor can I bend over and touch my toes without bending at the knees. Never have been able to. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123/81 "2021-04-18T00:24:24Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I can’t squat with my feet flat on the floor > [@Oglomott](#): > > nor can I bend over and touch my toes without bending at the knees I did manage to do these things when I was about 8 years old, but I had to do stretching exercises every day for about 2 months. Turns out I have a cable in the backs of my legs (they called it an “ankle cord”) that is normally shorter in me than in many normal people, and neglecting those stretches led to the cord shrinking back to its normal length. In me, this so so pronounced that I walk with a toe bias, which can cause regular footwear to fail early where it gets bent from that (I also have very tall, wide feet, so my shoes end up being an inch or two longer than they should). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-fill-in-the-blank/940123.md?page=5)