# What CAN'T you do?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 20, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620 "2000-10-20T02:42:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/1 "2000-10-20T02:42:41Z")
Is there anything you are just unable to do? I mean things that are second nature to some/most people.
For instance, I can’t:
Snap my fingers.
Sleep on my stomach or my back.
Sleep in my contacts or with any living animal (except for humans, ha ha ha.)
Not sleep in a bra.
Whistle by blowing air OUT.
Play a flute. Not that I don’t know the notes, I just can’t make any sound on it.
What about you?
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### Author:  [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/2 "2000-10-20T02:47:46Z")
Trill an “r”. (There went my career as a translator. Even my voice teacher would laugh at my sorry attempts.)
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/3 "2000-10-20T03:11:48Z")
Make misteaks.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/4 "2000-10-20T03:17:57Z")
Is there anyone to learn to trill one’s Rs?
I’m gonna have to learn Russian and I WANT to be able to do it right.
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### Author:  [@Renton\_lvr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renton_lvr)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/5 "2000-10-20T03:27:10Z")
I can’t snap my fingers either.
I can’t tie my shoes in the traditional way…(actually I CAN but I find it much easier to do the “bunny ears” thing.)
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### Author:  [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/6 "2000-10-20T03:46:56Z")
I can’t sing on key.
I can’t sleep with noise (everyone in my family could sleep through a tornado tearing the roof of the house, I can’t sleep if the air conditioner is running).
I can’t argue loudly with people (I dissolve into tears when they yell at me).
I can’t whistle at all.
I can’t do that Star Trek-finger thing (like this: \//)
I can’tplay any musical instrument.
I can’t sit through a commercial break (I immediatly grab a book and start reading out of boredom).
I can’t think of anything else right now. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/7 "2000-10-20T04:30:32Z")
Nocturne, I don’t get it. It’s impossible for you to sleep with your bra off? Why? You did it for a good 12 years with no problem. I’ve done it so far for a good 23 (give or take a night :))
And slythe, you’d better learn to make my steaks if you know what’s good for you. Gotta earn your keep somehow.
What can’t I do? Well, I can’t…
Tell a lie
Not tell a lie
Solve one of those problems where one guard is always lying and the other is always telling the truth
Pick my friend’s nose
fly higher than an eagle
get on the internet without checking the SMDB
make you sweat 'til you groove
get no satisfaction
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### Author:  [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/8 "2000-10-20T04:59:59Z")
I guess it’s not a “can’t”, but I don’t know how to ride a bicycle.
I have no innate sense of direction. This whole thing about
“Turn West” means nothing, unless I check where the sun is in the sky. I need to know if I turn right, or left. No internal compass in me!
I can’t crack my knuckles. Or perhaps it’s because I never wanted to!
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/9 "2000-10-20T05:27:51Z")
Honesty time.
I can not dance. I have never danced.
Ever.
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### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/10 "2000-10-20T06:45:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by slythe \*
> \*\*Honesty time.
> I can not dance. I have never danced.
> Ever. \*\*
Ditto
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### Author:  [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/11 "2000-10-20T07:53:41Z")
I can’t instantly discern which is right and which is left. I don’t know why, it’s just not hardwired into me. I know full well, I write with my right hand, but I still can’t figure out which direction is right or left without making an “L” with my left hand.
I also didn’t figure out how to snap my fingers until the seventh grade. However, when I did, I couldn’t stop snapping my fingers for several monthes. “Now we know you’re proud about figuring out how to snap your fingers, but can you stop it now?”
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/12 "2000-10-20T09:19:56Z")
whistle with my fingers.
blink my left eye only.
roll my 'r’s.(trilling, you said?)
make the ‘Donald Duck’ voice.
dance.
carry a tune.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/13 "2000-10-20T09:20:57Z")
Oh, yeah.
I cannot spell or use correct punctuation.
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### Author:  [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/14 "2000-10-20T10:32:00Z")
Yer right, spooje.
The brain said “roll”, the fingers received the message as “trill”.
See why I wouldn’t have made a living as a translator?
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
\
I don’t dance, either.
Can’t whistle with my fingers or a piece of grass.
Can’t make armpit noises. (One of my 4th grade students could do a passable version of the 'Star-Spangled Banner"- 1st verse. Disgusting and intriguing at the same time.)
Roommate can’t float - sinks like a stone.
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### Author:  [@tatertot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tatertot)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/15 "2000-10-20T10:35:07Z")
I can’t do any of those things either! I am such a flake, really I’m the only person I know without any talents whatsoever. Geez, when these looks go, whatever will become of me? ☹
Oh, wait, I can float! WooHoo! I’m not a loser after all!
Although, I still am not very good at all at driving stick, after what, 7 years of practice?
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/16 "2000-10-20T11:40:28Z")
Well, OK, I can’t bear children, but that’s because I’m a male person. I guess that’s not really what you meant, but there it is.
I also cannot snap my fingers.
I can whistle by blowing air out, in, with two fingers in my mouth, and with a blade of grass, but I cannot whistle through my teeth. My father can (in fact, he used to “whistle us in” at dinnertime. I still have a Pavlovian reaction when I hear it. I automatically turn and walk in the direction of the whistle). I wish I could. I hate getting my fingers wet just to produce a piercing whistle.
I can’t play the guitar. I’ve played piano since age 5, and I guess I’m just too keyboard-oriented. The finger position of guitar chords make absolutely no sense to me.
I can’t eat with chopsticks.
I have a difficult time singing casually. I studied voice for awhile, and have always sung in groups as well as solo (school, church, that kinda thing). So I can’t just sing along with the radio. I have to “perform”. My daughter says whenever I sing I sound like I’m in church.
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/17 "2000-10-20T12:07:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by screech-owl \*
> \*\*Yer right, spooje.
> The brain said “roll”, the fingers received the message as “trill”.
> See why I wouldn’t have made a living as a translator?
> “Ich bin ein Berliner”
> \
>
> \*\*
I don’t understand. It’s not called ‘trilling’?
I thought it was just a term I hadn’t heard before.
Glad I found out now.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/18 "2000-10-20T12:23:07Z")
I cannot sing. Well, I can sing every Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and some in other languages, but not like he had in mind.
I have no sense of direction. These two traits are shared by everyone in my family, so maybe it’s genetic. We could never have a family reunion, cause most of us would never get there.
I can’t whistle or dance, and I have limited eye-hand coordination. Didn’t learn to write or tie my shoes till I was eight.
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### Author:  [@Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zumba_The_Cat)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/19 "2000-10-20T13:02:13Z")
I can’t sing. I try to sing all the time. If there is a song playing to the radio or in my head I am trying to sing to it. I remember every word to every song I heard once. However, I can’t carry a tune to save my life. I am tone deaf.
I can’t remember names. I read hundreds of books and I can never remember who wrote them. I remember the name of the book and what it was about. I can quote whole paragraphs by memory if I really liked them. But, ask me who wrote it and I draw a blank.
I also have difficulty with the whole east-west-right-left thing. I never know where I am. You can stop my boyfriend on the street at night and ask him to point north and he can do it. I only know which hand is my left because I wear my watch on my left wrist.
There are so many things I can’t do. Someone should start a thread were people can tell what they can do. For me it would be a shorter list!
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### Author:  [@UrbanShocker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanShocker)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2000, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/20 "2000-10-20T13:05:23Z")
I can’t make a paper airplane. People have shown me many times, but I can’t remember where to fold the paper and it always ends up crashing on takeoff.
I can’t push myself on a swing. I must have been thirteen or fourteen the last time I was on a swing, and I still needed somebody to push me. Isn’t that embarrassing? I have no clue what muscles I’m supposed to use.
I can’t swim very well. I can keep myself afloat, but not the “technical” way. (I also can’t, under any circumstances, dive.)
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