# People who haven't learned a common skill **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 11, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150 "2011-06-11T20:53:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/41 "2011-06-12T03:25:42Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I don’t know anyone my age or younger that can drive a stick shift. I think stick shifts are still around in rural areas. Could you imagine what a pain it’d be to drive one in Pittsburgh or San Francisco (Both cities are basically one big hill) Plenty of stick shift Hondas and Volkswagens here in Mpls. And stopping on a hill is really no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/42 "2011-06-12T03:30:22Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I’m 46 and can drive a stick shift, but I think I was one of the last age group to do so. In my 50s but cannot drive a stick. Never learned. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/43 "2011-06-12T03:31:08Z")
I can’t swim. I almost drowned as a kid. I’ve taken swimming lessons many times. I graduate because it appears I know what I’m doing, but the next time I get in the water, I try to swim and it comes out as uncoordinated flailing. I can’t drive. I think this was because my dad tried to teach me with a stick shift. I tried years later with an automatic transmission and I was better, but I didn’t practice enough. I can’t whistle. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/44 "2011-06-12T03:35:05Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In my 50s but cannot drive a stick. Never learned. As someone once told me: “If you can’t find 'em, grind 'em; cause if you grind 'em, you got 'em.” ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/45 "2011-06-12T03:38:11Z")
I’m always amazed at the number of people that don’t know how to build a fire. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/46 "2011-06-12T03:59:19Z")
I can ride a bike, but only if I keep my left arm on the handlebar at all times. Otherwise I lose my balance. I can ride without my right hand on the handlebar just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/47 "2011-06-12T04:12:01Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Texting. I do have a cell phone, but I have never bothered to learn how to text with it. I think this makes me old :D. I have a cell phone too, and have yet to send any texts. I’m sure I could learn, but there’s EMAIL. I also don’t answer my cell if I’m not expecting a call. Since everyone knows that I don’t answer my cell, and don’t answer texts, usually the only calls or texts that I get are telemarketers, and unless I recognize the name/number, get deleted without any other response. I can’t swim. My dad has tried to teach me, and I’ve had a couple of different swimming classes. Part of the reason is that I’m extremely nearsighted, so badly that I can’t see where the edge of the pool is. And even if I take my glasses off, and try to float, I used to sink like a stone. I’ll SAY that I go swimming, though, when what I mean is that I do exercises in the swimming pool. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/48 "2011-06-12T04:19:02Z")
I had a friend in college who could not plunge a toilet or use a mop. This wasn’t excuse-making to get out of chores; she legitimately did not know how and we had to show her. I’m 23 and can’t drive stick. I am also baffled by and terrified of fax machines. Their use has been explained to me by several different people on at least 5 occasions and I still need a step-by-step guide and do it wrong more than half the time. I managed to successfully operate one in a FedEx/Kinko’s in under 10 minutes last year and it was a feeling of accomplishment on par with getting to the summit of K2. Pathetic, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/49 "2011-06-12T04:24:35Z")
I learned how to build a fire in Girl Scouts, but I don’t know if I’d be all that good at it now. (And I’m talking campfire, here, not charcoal grill fire. Which I learned how to do once and promptly forgot.) As for common skills that I lack: -A lot of financial/banking stuff, like taking out loans. Dunno if that counts as “common,” but it seems to be something that a lot of my friends have had to do. -Making copies. I actually think I could do it with a reasonable amount of aplomb if I did it more often, but as it is, if you were to ask me to make copies, I’d end up staring at the machine wondering what to do. People say it’s easy, and they’re probably right, I just need a little push in the right direction. -Do basic math. Well, no, that’s not right, let me rephrase that: do basic math _quickly_. A lot of simple sums that most folks can come up with off the top of their heads (like 8+9) are ones I need to think about for a moment before answering. I can do it, I’m just very, very slow. My dad (who’s a physicist) says he’s known folks at work–brilliant scientists, even–who can’t write their way out of a paper bag. I suppose that’s not “common” either, but it seems like something most people learn. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/50 "2011-06-12T04:37:16Z")
I’m a little surprised by the number of people who can’t swim. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/51 "2011-06-12T06:38:11Z")
Well, if you’re not near a natural body of water, it’s gonna cost money to go swimming. My dad liked to swim, and so did my sister and brother, so we’d go to a pool on a regular basis. If my father hadn’t liked to swim, I doubt that we’d have gone more than a couple of times during my childhood. And if you’re not exposed to this sort of thing as a kid, then you probably won’t take it up as an adult. In Camp Fire Girls, I was the best fire starter, hands down. I don’t know how I’d do these days, because I’m spoiled by those long candle lighters. But I used to regularly start fires with only one match. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/52 "2011-06-12T08:58:01Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > I’m always amazed at the number of people that don’t know how to build a fire. I’m a bit curious about why you think this. Unless you like camping or perhaps barbecuing, there is no particular reason to know how to build a fire. You just twist the knob on the stove and fire just appears. ---
**Author:** ![NBYodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9a28c/32.png) [@NBYodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBYodo)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/53 "2011-06-12T10:01:20Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > I’m a little surprised by the number of people who can’t swim. or/and can’t drive a car! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/54 "2011-06-12T10:15:17Z")
For myself; -Tying shoes: I never did manage to figure out how to do it so they’d stay together longer than 15 minutes. Since I started buying my own shoes i’ve gone for the laceless kind. -Any sort of lawn-mowing or garden-tending. - Parallel parking. I absolutely CANNOT back into a space or get my car level to the curb. -Clothes-shopping. I have no idea what size I am and I can never remember what size I bought the last time I needed a new pair of pants. I’m thankful i’m a male at least - I have absolutely no idea what the “xx-xx-xx” thing for measurements means, or how to visualize what those numbers look like on a person. (Although I CAN remember my shoe size, but since that hasn’t changed since I was 15 it’s not so difficult.) ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/55 "2011-06-12T11:22:49Z")
We had to show a temp at my previous job how to remove staples using a staple puller. I cannot swim nor can I make a fire. Can’t blow bubbles either. My wife says I can’t whistle, but I do make some noise that, to me, seems like whistling. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/56 "2011-06-12T11:35:19Z")
I can (just about) swim a short distance but I can’t open my eyes because all the water splashes in them. So the only way I know I’ve reached the end of a pool is when my head crashes into the wall. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/57 "2011-06-12T14:19:05Z")
Can’t drive. Can’t tie a tie. At once place I worked, I always had to ask a colleague to do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/58 "2011-06-12T14:40:07Z")
I can’t swim underwater without holding my nose. I’m always amazed at people who can’t read maps. What’s the problem? You see where you are, and you see where you want to go, and you look for the squiggly line that connects the two. Problem solved! ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/59 "2011-06-12T15:43:08Z")
> [@NBYodo](#): > > or/and can’t drive a car! I’m nearly 40 and I can’t drive, in fairness I’ve never really needed to but I’m beggining to think that I should for various reasons. I’m having lessons in the next few months. I’m either going to love it or it’s a disaster waiting to happen, we’ll see. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150/60 "2011-06-12T16:04:48Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I don’t know anyone my age or younger that can drive a stick shift. I think stick shifts are still around in rural areas. Could you imagine what a pain it’d be to drive one in Pittsburgh or San Francisco (Both cities are basically one big hill) I learned to drive in midtown Manhattan, and I learned to drive stick in Northport, Long Island, which is quite hilly. I actually bought a stick shift car before knowing how to drive it. A coworker went with me to pick it up, and she showed me how to drive it in the dealer’s parking lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-havent-learned-a-common-skill/585150.md?page=4)