# What CAN'T you do? **URL:** \ **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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![shimmery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@shimmery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shimmery)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/41 "2000-10-20T19:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mofo Rising \* > \*\*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. > \*\* And I always thought I was the only one! My friends are _constantly_ making fun of me ! **WillK** , I think you’re my dad! (_nobody_ drives his car - I dread the day he teaches me to drive) ---
**Author:** ![jesuslynch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e99b99/32.png) [@jesuslynch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jesuslynch)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/42 "2000-10-20T19:46:54Z")
Even after 37 years of trying, I can’t please my mother. I can’t do the splits more than once.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![shimmery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@shimmery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shimmery)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/43 "2000-10-20T19:48:05Z")
(I meant nobody but my dad.) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/44 "2000-10-20T20:59:11Z")
I cannot understand money at all. Despite the fact I am usually excellent with numbers, the second someone puts a dollar sign in front of some it all becomes pure and total gibberish. I can’t raise just one eyebrow or wink without contorting my face so much that it ruins the effect. I also have zero sense of direction unless I’m outside and the sun is rising or setting. Inside of a building, in the middle of the day, or at night I need left/right directions. I can’t float, which has driven multiple swimming instructors nuts. Somehow or other I learned to swim ok, but every attempt at dead man’s float or anything similar has ended with me sinking toward or landing on the bottom of the pool/lake/pond. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/45 "2000-10-20T21:21:34Z")
I can’t make a fortune selling taxidermed pets. I can’t stop eating junk food. I can’t stop chewing on the little plastic things that attach price tags to new clothes. I can’t see a sheet of bubble wrap and not pop it. I can’t tell a guy my feelings when i have a crush on him. I can’t understand how a computer works I can’t change a tire I can’t go back and change a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/46 "2000-10-20T23:13:09Z")
I can’t draw. The best I can do is stuff that is almost recognizable if, say, I was playing Pictionary. Like the Dave-Man, I can’t use chopsticks. This sucks, because I love sushi, but it looks really stupid when I eat it with my fingers, or spear it. Right now, I can’t finish my law school applications. Every time I think I’m almost done, I end up finding new things I need to do. It’s horribly frustrating. Luckily, I have another month to finish the busy-work. I can’t pee standing up. Yes, I’m aware that I’m a woman, but someone here posted a link to a website that gives a technique for a woman to stand up to pee. So I go in the shower with a nice full bladder to try it, and nothing. I guess I’m so used to peeing sitting down that I get pee-shy when I try it standing up. Sucks, because I really want to learn how. ---
**Author:** ![orion007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@orion007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orion007)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/47 "2000-10-21T01:38:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Drain Bead \* > \*\*Like the Dave-Man, I can’t use chopsticks. This sucks, because I love sushi, but it looks really stupid when I eat it with my fingers, or spear it. > \*\* At Benihana restaurant they do this thing where they roll up the wrapper of the chopsticks, put it between the chopsticks like two inches below the top, and tie a rubber band around them above the paper roll. It makes them easier to use and that’s how I learned to use chopsticks. Anyway, I absolutely cannot stand to have people stare at me. I HATE it. I always think they’re looking for my flaws or criticizing me or something. Also, I can’t look at people while we are talking. Lots of people have commented about it and even have gotten pissed at me because of that, but it’s just the way I am, I guess. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/48 "2000-10-21T02:03:26Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by spooje \* \*\* > [@](#): > > I don’t understand. It’s not called ‘trilling’?.. > \*\* Not sure, actually. Trilling an ‘R’ may be different from rolling an ‘R’. Or it could be the same thing. I’d say trilling is different. Either way, I can’t trill/roll 'R’s. ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/49 "2000-10-21T02:07:19Z")
I can’t whistle. I’ve tried my entire life, and can’t get a single clear note, just sounds like a raspberry. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/50 "2000-10-21T02:30:04Z")
…whistle with my fingers in my mouth …whistle on a grass blade …roll an “r” …pronounce the french “r”, the guttural one …find a boyfriend irl ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/51 "2000-10-21T13:00:33Z")
Ride a Bike. My wife keeps promising to teach me, but we never get around to it. She can’t swim, so we’ve agreed to teach each other…one day. ---
**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620/52 "2000-10-21T13:21:15Z")
Numbers! I have dyscalula (like dyslexia, only with numbers.) I can do basic addition in my head, but put it on paper & it looks like sanskrit. I’ve had endless tutoring, but I’m just not wired for it. Thank God for calculators. I also cannot reproduce any note on any musical instrument, which is frustrating because I love so many forms of music & can’t even hum along. Oh, and I can’t whistle with my fingers in my mouth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-you-do/37620.md?page=2)