# What's the least important thing that you're really, really good at? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166 "2010-02-23T20:57:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/81 "2010-02-24T19:52:32Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > They’re very different if you’ve developed the eye. The s’s and c’s are the biggest giveaway. The cues I remember looking at were the R’s and the G’s (capitals, specifically). Although I skimmed back over the deck this morning, and hell if I can find the problem again. I’m wondering if I actually dreamed the whole thing out of sheer stress and paranoia that \*something \*was going to go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/82 "2010-02-24T19:54:22Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I am quite possibly the world’s best shot with a rubber band. I hit what I aim at 90% of the time. Once as a kid I hit a driver in the face through that little triangular vent window cars used to have. A moving car. Yeah I was a brat. You must have stolen that title from me. Back in college my friend and I made a rubberband ball (which currently has about 11,000 bands on it). When we were bored we’d set up targets around the living room and try to hit them. It got to the point where we could hit a one by one inch target (a pack of chicklets) from about 15 feet away with no problem. I’ve lost a little of it, but I’m still pretty damn good. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/83 "2010-02-24T19:55:36Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I got nothing but I’d like to brag about my cousin. > > When we were kids he could fart on command. I’m not sure if he can do that anymore. > > I used to try to catch him “unloaded” and at random times I would tell him to fart. He always did and it always stunk. We are trying to teach our dog to do this! She seems to get the idea and she has plenty of ammunition but she can’t always make it noisy, due to a lack of butt cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/84 "2010-02-24T20:13:16Z")
I can peel an orange in under ten seconds, without breaking the peel. (Picture the peel looking like it just went through an apple coring machine). I use both hands and it looks like I’m trying to make farting sounds with my hands. Then I pull my hands apart with the orange in my left hand and the (single) peel in my right, making this face 😃 while my wife gives me a golf clap. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/85 "2010-02-24T20:26:13Z")
This guy deserves a mention in this thread. (The video is safe for work, but there are some VERY NSFW ads on the page; extremely graphic images advertising for p()rn sites, so beware.) [http://muchosucko.com/show/it\_apos\_s\_a\_little\_weird\_how\_good\_this\_guy\_is\_-69006](http://muchosucko.com/show/it_apos_s_a_little_weird_how_good_this_guy_is_-69006) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/86 "2010-02-24T20:31:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You must have stolen that title from me. Back in college my friend and I made a rubberband ball (which currently has about 11,000 bands on it). When we were bored we’d set up targets around the living room and try to hit them. It got to the point where we could hit a one by one inch target (a pack of chicklets) from about 15 feet away with no problem. I’ve lost a little of it, but I’m still pretty damn good. I sit kitty corner from a coworker’s office, such that you have to zigzag a tiny bit to walk from my desk to hers; zig right around a wall coming from the right, and then left again into her doorway. As the rubberband flies, a straight line from my desk, I have a narrow window about an in and a half wide between the wall as an obstacle on the right side of this imaginary pathway, and her doorjamb as an obstacle on the left side. So to get a rubber band from my desk into her office, I have to skim it within an inch of the wall on the right, and within an inch of the jamb on the left, into her office. And since the walls are opaque, I have zero warning when she will be passing by that vertical target space of an inch an and half wide, about 20 yards away. I hit her about 75% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![bartleby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bartleby/32/10491_2.png) [@bartleby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bartleby)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/87 "2010-02-24T20:42:43Z")
i can strip wires pretty well… well i used to be able to… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/88 "2010-02-24T20:50:22Z")
I can do acrostic puzzles really, really well. When I was in grad school I did an entire book of Middleton puzzles without writing anything down - I solved each puzzle without a pencil. I’d say trivia and crossword puzzles, but I’ve won stuff using those abilities. And being able to pack really well (which I inherited from my father) has been handy plenty of times. ---
**Author:** ![BestWifeEver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/838e76/32.png) [@BestWifeEver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BestWifeEver)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/89 "2010-02-24T20:59:51Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > This one is hard to desribe, but try it anyway. Put the fingers of one hand in a “Live Long and Prosper” position > > pointer/middle | wide space | ring/pinkie > > Put the other hand in the “opposite position” > > pointer | wide space | middle/ring | wide space | Pinkie > > Got that? Now switch them. > > Back and forth, no hesitation or unsynchronized movement. My hubby can do that one! I am really, really good at cleaning glasses (spectacles not cups) with my shirt. I am also very good at untying knots. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/90 "2010-02-24T21:02:33Z")
Freaks. We’re all freaks. ---
**Author:** ![Staver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Staver808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staver808)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/91 "2010-02-24T22:35:22Z")
> [@Rheintochter](#): > > Ohhh, I do that too. > And when I pick up, say, a dishcloth, I fling it up with my toes behind me and catch it in my hand. 🙂 > > My least important super-skill is finding four-leaf-clover. I can just walk across a meadow an spot the things. I remember once spotting one from a car at a red light, getting out, picking the clover and getting back in the car again before the lights turned . > For birthdays I often give bouquets of clovers: 40 four-leaf-clovers for the 40th birthday. No problem at all. > I have also found five-leaf, six-leaf and eight-leaf clovers quite often, but cannot remeber ever seeing a seven-leaf-clover… . 5,6 and 8 leaf clovers? You don’t happen to live near a nuclear power plant by any chance? And I gotta say, getting a bouquet of 4 leaf clovers for my bday would be totally cool. I vote this as a bad post since this isn’t a useless skill IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Staver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Staver808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staver808)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/92 "2010-02-25T00:44:38Z")
While I have nothing to contribute, as all my skills are extremely handy 😛 I’d like to nominate my friend. He is able to tell you what movie/tv show any particular actor is from. Of course I mean the obscure or not as famous ones, or th ones who suddenly become famous because of a hit show/movie. For instance when we saw How I Met Your Mother for the first time, he knew the actress that plays Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) was the girl in the car from Walking Tall when the Rock smashes up his “friends” lights and tells him to get them repaired. He’s got an almost photographic memory for faces. He does numbers as well, but that’s proven handy on many occations. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/93 "2010-02-25T01:52:25Z")
I can always fit one. more. thing. into the refrigerator freezer. Bring home a gallon of ice cream? Need to make a tray of ice cubes? Buy a 3 pound bag of frozen chicken drumsticks from Aldi’s? No problem-o. I will make it fit! ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/94 "2010-02-25T02:40:10Z")
While flipping through channels I can recognize what movie is on within 10 seconds, 90% of the time. Even if I’ve never seen it. Slightly less useless is I’m very good at microwaving things. Be it Hot Pocket, burrito, or a can of ravioli. I never have to worry about “boiling hot on the outside, frozen in the middle.” ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/95 "2010-02-25T02:43:06Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I can parallel park the shit out of a car. The _shit out of_ it. I don’t know why, but I can’t stop laughing at this. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/96 "2010-02-25T02:48:41Z")
I can, and do, recover from unintentional pratfalls so well that anyone who hasn’t seen it before assumes it’s on purpose, or looks around for the cameras. I guess that’s not the least important, though, since it saves me everything from skinned knees to twisted ankles to, of course, face. I can wake up without an alarm clock, and have a life-long talent of being able to know what time it is to within a couple of minutes. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/97 "2010-02-25T03:44:32Z")
> [@Rheintochter](#): > > My least important super-skill is finding four-leaf-clover. I can just walk across a meadow an spot the things. I remember once spotting one from a car at a red light, getting out, picking the clover and getting back in the car again before the lights turned . > For birthdays I often give bouquets of clovers: 40 four-leaf-clovers for the 40th birthday. No problem at all. > I have also found five-leaf, six-leaf and eight-leaf clovers quite often, but cannot remeber ever seeing a seven-leaf-clover… . I used to do this, although I haven’t in a while. I once walked out to a clover patch in front of my house and walked away with eight four-leaf clovers and three five-leaf. Took about ten minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Incref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@Incref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incref)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/98 "2010-02-25T03:55:42Z")
I can draw realistic horse heads using a biro and my foot. This is a surprisingly popular party trick. In addition to my dexterous toes I have very flexible legs and can light my cigarette using just my feet (more impressive with a Zippo but can be done with a bic). I have also been known to pick up cameras and take pictures this way. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/99 "2010-02-25T03:59:42Z")
Like others here, I am a master of tight packing. It’s like 3D Tetris. When my husband and I go to the grocery store, I always put the groceries away because I can fit things into the fridge and cupboards like no one else. Also, I’m really good at pouring a perfect shot. Once I pour one shot from a bottle (each stopper pours different), I can pour a near-perfect shot from there on out. For that reason, at home, I keep the same brand of stoppers in all my bottles, so I can keep that trick going. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166/100 "2010-02-25T03:59:49Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I can parallel park the shit out of a car. The _shit out of_ it. If this is your “least important,” than you must be a very, very useful person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-least-important-thing-that-youre-really-really-good-at/530166.md?page=6)