# What's Your Greatest Unpracticed, Enviable Talent? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552 "2012-05-01T20:36:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552/61 "2012-05-04T04:05:05Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > Please come to my house, I have a small cupboard full of the damn things and I can’t get a lid for anything! I would totally do that. I actually spent some time geeking my face off at my best friends house doing just that very thing once. Took out everything and washed, inspected and mated it all up, convincing her to recycle all the worn out ones and orphans. Worked great and she mostly kept it all together, since getting rid of the odds and ends gave her the space to actually see what useful items were there. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552/62 "2012-05-04T05:14:20Z")
Speed-reading. My parents (especially my dad) would frequently comment that I couldn’t possibly be reading and comprehending books at the speed with which I read. I was, I just always took in a line at a time. I can’t imagine being less literate than I am… how awful it’s gotta be to read more slowly ☹ And spelling, but that’s not really terribly enviable. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552/63 "2012-05-04T06:47:41Z")
I once took karate, when I was 11. I am 40 now and still sneak up on people accidentally. I did it Tuesday in fact. Just walked right into the room and wasn’t noticed until someone walked in after me and I spoke. That’s when I was noticed. I’m also a very fast learner. I mean very fast. In a new job once I was asked to do something I’d never done before, nor had anyone trained me. I figured it out in a couple of hours, mostly by searching the previous employee’s emails. Got no thanks. Don’t work there anymore. It’s helped me greatly with my current job though. 🙂 I had to learn about 3 new softwares that aren’t exactly public knowledge, and I did it without tutorials. Just picking at it. And I know some ancient Egyptian. I learned it for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552/64 "2012-05-04T07:02:34Z")
> [@living\_in\_hell](#): > > In all seriousness, I can hula hoop for 72 minutes without dropping it. What happens at 72:01? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552/65 "2012-05-04T07:52:12Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > I’m also a very fast learner. I mean very fast. In a new job once I was asked to do something I’d never done before, nor had anyone trained me. I figured it out in a couple of hours, mostly by searching the previous employee’s emails. Got no thanks. Don’t work there anymore. Same here. I have one real gift, which is the ability to learn very quickly. Often, I’ll have to teach someone how to do something one beat after I have figured it out. Seriously, people pay me to explain something _as they sit there_ (and I figure it out. My clients assume that I can figure it it out better than they can and translate it into something they can understand. I’ve worked as an office temp, and have tested out as an “expert” on half a dozen software packages I had never seen before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-greatest-unpracticed-enviable-talent/620552.md?page=3)