# I Envy People Who... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767 "2000-12-02T23:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/1 "2000-12-02T23:53:41Z")
…are organized …have enough money to not worry about it …can fart on command …can sing Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/2 "2000-12-02T23:54:47Z")
I can fart on command, but I can’t sing. I envy people who understand math, and spatial relationships. ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/3 "2000-12-03T00:24:44Z")
…can fart on command, _while_ singing! 😃 Seriously… Can sing Understand math Can be outgoing And lots of other stuff, but I can’t think of anything else. ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/4 "2000-12-03T00:49:27Z")
. . . are beautiful. . . . can swim. . . . are confident. . . . are my friend Julia, because she’s significantly prettier and smarter than me. . . . look good with really short or really long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/5 "2000-12-03T02:19:41Z")
…have jobs that entail international travel. ---
**Author:** ![relic\_11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/50afbb/32.png) [@relic\_11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/relic_11)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/6 "2000-12-03T02:25:58Z")
…That live with or near their SO’s. _Sniff_ ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/7 "2000-12-03T03:37:47Z")
…that are _ **uncircumsized!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/8 "2000-12-03T03:40:55Z")
…can play a musical instrument …can play _several_ musical instruments ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/9 "2000-12-03T03:47:40Z")
- can be spontaneously, joyously outgoing. My best pal can talk to _walls_! No one is a stranger to her. I tag along, smile and nod a lot. What a wonderful gift! - can wake up in the morning and _see_; I can’t even remember it. Was gearing up for LASIK eye surgery, then had to buy a new furnace. Maybe next year… - math whizzes, who understand numbers the way I understand words. Odd, that. Took language for me to understand that I’m near-“innumerate”. Worlds of beauty and meaning out there, and my brain just doesn’t see anything but drudgery. Depressed, Veb ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/10 "2000-12-03T03:55:03Z")
\*Originally posted by TVeblen \* - math whizzes, who understand numbers the way I understand words. Odd, that. Took language for me to understand that I’m near- **“innumerate”**. Worlds of beauty and meaning out there, and my brain just doesn’t see anything but drudgery. Innumerate. Great word, TVeblen. (I’ll give you proper credit whenever I use it.) ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/11 "2000-12-03T03:56:30Z")
…are free of chronic physical pain. I’d like to have a month, or even a week, where I actually felt good every single day. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/12 "2000-12-03T05:24:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AuntiePam \* > \*\*\*Originally posted by TVeblen \* > Innumerate. Great word, TVeblen. (I’ll give you proper credit whenever I use it.) \*\* Wish I could claim it, AuntiePam! It was a term coined by Paulos (I think); a _great_ writer who understood words as well as math. (Great writer=translating concepts into words.) Smacked me upside the chops that facile, “Oh, I just don’t have the _mind_ for that!”–i.e. math–was just as crippling as illiteracy. And as crippling. Don’t mean to dump cold water on your head, but don’t want to claim someone else’s insight for my own either. _Aware_ number idiot, Veb ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/13 "2000-12-03T05:35:37Z")
Don’t worry about cold water here. It actually makes me feel better about this failing to know that enough other people suffer from it to justify it having its own term. How’s that for mangled syntax? I’m illiterate too! Is there help for innumeracy? Or are we doomed? ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/14 "2000-12-03T05:37:04Z")
Outgoing people People that don’t have to worry about money all the time People with the ability to not procrastinate People who are attractive ---
**Author:** ![hypergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/15 "2000-12-03T06:50:29Z")
who can act who can sing who are charming who have the ability to attract anyone who are genuinely happy with their life ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/16 "2000-12-03T07:13:47Z")
…are in happy relationships. …are comfortable with themselves. …who aren’t obsessed, compulsive, or paranoid…there must be SOME, don’t you think?? …who know how to say, ‘no’ and not get mad to be able to say it. …can fix their own cars, plumbing, or electrical items. …who still have good knees!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/17 "2000-12-03T14:10:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVeblen \* > **math whizzes, who understand numbers the way I understand words. Odd, that. Took language for me to understand that I’m near-“innumerate”. Worlds of beauty and meaning out there, and my brain just doesn’t see anything but drudgery.** You know, I’m reasonably good with numbers (at least enough to get into grad school for physical sciences) and I’d much rather be good with people and words. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-envy-people-who/43767/18 "2000-12-03T14:40:39Z")
…maintain their optimism and ideals of youth …can draw, paint, or sculpt …live where it snows a lot …don’t get tongue-tied around attractive women …are experts at bridge …have miles of woods around their homes and the time to walk through them …understand quantum physics …have climbed Mount Everest …have photographic memory …understand what the heck is going on