# Poll: Weird skill you learned long ago you can still do **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547 "2007-01-19T02:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/41 "2007-01-19T22:16:41Z")
20 years ago I learned how to ride my neighbors unicycle. It took me about a week to learn and then I rode it around all summer. Now I get the opportunity to ride one once every 5-10 years but I can jump right on and go. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/42 "2007-01-19T22:22:22Z")
I can do the “Jacob’s ladder” string game in nothing flat, after years of disuse. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/43 "2007-01-19T22:38:13Z")
[I taught myself sign-language (alphabet) from an encyclopedia when I was about 8. I still remember it some 28 years later.](http://usera.imagecave.com/Scruloose/HiK.GIF) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/44 "2007-01-19T23:27:48Z")
I can crack an egg one-handed (and use the other hand to separate the yolk from the white, icky but practical). This is less impressive when I explain that I cannot for the life of me do the normal, two-handed version. ---
**Author:** ![Kairos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecc23a/32.png) [@Kairos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kairos)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/45 "2007-01-19T23:44:01Z")
I can touch my nose with my tongue. This impressed one of my dentists - he took a picture and showed it off at a dental conference. I may be famous among dentists! ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/46 "2007-01-20T04:47:40Z")
Not so long ago, 6 years a honed skill, but unused since, so: I worked at a wildlife shelter as a full-time rehabilitator, and so had to catch a lot of small birds when escaped, and had to learn how to catch them quick and be able to take them in hand unhurt. Took a good while to be fast and accurate at it, but did. (One long term hide and seek with a bird on the loose will hone those skills, or you quit in tears. I got good) So, last week, one of my parakeets got loose out of Their room, and into Where the Three Cats Are, flying all around a large room. I was amazed that I zeroed in and caught the little bird, flying all over the place, by hand in two minutes flat. Very weird, just a hyperfocused automatic state; fast pounce, and a hand closing softly enough to get the bird safe. The cats were right behind me in the same mode, sans safe. Whew! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/47 "2007-01-20T06:39:28Z")
I can pick most car door locks in under 10 seconds with just a coathanger. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/48 "2007-01-20T11:24:31Z")
I can shoot somebody with milk from a cow teet when they’re walking by. I can still hand milk a cow, but my hands would give out before I could finish now. I can still remember the 70’s and farmers having no power for a couple days. You can’t hand milk a large herd with the same number of persons you have using the milking machines run by vaccum. My uncle jury rigged a tractor and it’s carborator to provide vacuum to run one machine at a time. He spent several thousands of dollars installing a power take off run generator after that. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/49 "2007-01-20T13:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=krisolov] …catch food items (goldfish crackers, cheese cubes, etc…) in my mouth when thrown from some distance away. Say up to 25 feet or so. [/QUOTE] Damn. You must be fun at parties. Any chance you can come to Gettysdope IV next summer? We’re also going to freeze bubbles. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/50 "2007-01-20T14:07:47Z")
I can roll my tongue into a tube, and flip my tongue so that the underside is up, both ways. I rarely demonstrate this skill in public though, ever since I learned about oral sex. I can also learn things very well from just reading a book. I taught myself how to do various craft projects, among other things. This has infuriated my husband, as I would pick up a skill in two days, say, designing a shield emblem for Dungeons and Dragons, and then when he tried to do the same thing he’d sweat for weeks before giving up and asking me to do it. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/51 "2007-01-20T14:29:54Z")
I can tap a telephone (for eavesdropping), and I can pick up BBs with chopsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/52 "2007-01-20T15:31:31Z")
After seeing James Dean throw an overhand knot with the end of a weighted rope, I learned how to do that. Then, to go him one better, I learned to throw a figure-of-eight knot as well. In case this trick doesn’t conjure up the image for you, check the scene in _Giant_ where he finds out that “Madama” has left “Little Riata” to him and he has to listen to Bick explain why he should take some money instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/53 "2007-01-20T18:47:28Z")
I can open a door (round knob) and turn on the lights with my foot while carrying a tray of food. I can also pick up anything as big as a tennis ball with my toes. I can also yank stuff from my kid’s hands with my feet (very useful when I am feeding the baby and he tries to get away with some crap). (yet I never learned to ride a bicycle!) ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/54 "2007-01-20T21:43:29Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > I’m a guy. I don’t have red hair and I don’t even have boobs. That’s not me. That’s Molly Ringwald who can do that. Does she actually demonstrate that in one of her movies? As for me, most people are amazed at how well I can catch a small object falling off a table. I tell them I was a famous goalie in my past life. They don’t believe me, probably because there’s no such thing as a famous goalie. 😉 I can also eat rice with chopsticks. This isn’t very unique, but it amazes most of my friends. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/55 "2007-01-20T23:13:35Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] … As for me, most people are amazed at how well I can catch a small object falling off a table. I tell them I was a famous goalie in my past life. They don’t believe me, probably because there’s no such thing as a famous goalie. 😉 [QUOTE] I do that, too. Someday, I’ll probably catch something hot or sharp, and hurt myself. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/56 "2007-01-20T23:28:43Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Does she actually demonstrate that in one of her movies? [/QUOTE] Yep. The Breakfast Club. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/57 "2007-01-21T01:50:33Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Damn. You must be fun at parties. Any chance you can come to Gettysdope IV next summer? We’re also going to freeze bubbles. [/QUOTE] I just may take you up on that. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/58 "2007-01-21T02:05:41Z")
and in the interest of full disclosure, my friend who caught and ate insects had a much more popular act. Fortunately for me, he’s retired 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/59 "2007-01-21T09:31:58Z")
> [@bundykala](#): > > Yep. The Breakfast Club. I don’t remember that. Guess which movie I’m renting next, though… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nuggets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Mr.Nuggets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nuggets)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547/60 "2007-01-21T15:25:53Z")
I can actually still do this: I can put my shoulders under my knees, and then lift up using only my hands. I have no idea where I acquired this skill, I guess I was born with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-weird-skill-you-learned-long-ago-you-can-still-do/388547.md?page=4)