# What's your silly skill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942 "2003-09-11T08:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/41 "2003-09-12T01:13:01Z")
I can play the fiddle solo from “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on my farting palms. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/42 "2003-09-12T04:13:59Z")
My wife does the cherry stem tying thing. Then she gives it to me and I untie it only using my tongue. What’s _that_ supposed to mean? I can fix a computer just by looking at it (or so I’ve fooled several users into thinking). I can also crash it with a wave of my hand. I can flip a cigarette out of it’s pack and up into my mouth with a single flick of the wrist (about a 1.5 feet from pack to lips). I can’t remember what movie I saw this in (a James Dean one perhaps?), but I’d already been doing this for a while before I saw it. I also do that finger-crossing thing that **MacSpon** posted. I’m also very good at convincing vending machines to take my money (or someone else’s), a la **CadburyAndgel** , both bills and coins, but I don’t pet or sweet talk the machines. I got _skillz_. ---
**Author:** ![SanguineSpider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SanguineSpider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanguineSpider)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/43 "2003-09-12T05:21:54Z")
Does the ability to vocally reproduce the high-pitched “Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi!” sound from “Xena: Warrior Princess” count? Because I can. I can also scream exactly like a whistle, it’s ear-shattering and useful for scaring the CRAP outta people (Huzzah!)!! I have a slight knack for finishing other people’s sentences when they can’t possibly find the word their looking for (they may just be trying to be polite, as far as I know). I can also tell you what other movies/shows/commercials, etc… the actor in the film you’re watching has been in (90% success rate). It’s just the special-ness that is ME… Dig it! ---
**Author:** ![Sinshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sinshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinshine)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/44 "2003-09-12T05:48:14Z")
Wiggle my nose like a rabbit. Croon most fractious children into a hypnotic trance which their mothers take to be a critical mothering skill. All you have to do is touch the kid to break it, so a very fragile trance. Wiggle my ears, but not independently of one another. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/45 "2003-09-12T05:57:04Z")
I can whistle using my tongue. I roll it into a tube and blow through it and it makes this interesting hooting noise. You can hear it at [home.wi.rr.com/elfbabe/hoot.wav](http://home.wi.rr.com/elfbabe/hoot.wav) - be warned, it’s about 1.5 megs as I’m having problems with my MP3 encoder. Anyway. I swear that that sound doesn’t use my vocal cords at ALL. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/46 "2003-09-12T05:58:27Z")
[right, linking…](http://home.wi.rr.com/elfbabe/hoot.wav) ---
**Author:** ![Stephi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stephi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephi)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/47 "2003-09-12T06:01:21Z")
I can escape from handcuffs every time. ---
**Author:** ![superstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@superstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superstar)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/48 "2003-09-12T06:32:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RotorHead \* > \*\*I can find good parking spaces anywhere I go. I think others could develop this skill though. My theory is that the closeness of the spot you get is inversely proportional to how much you actually care where you park. > > So, if you truly don’t care (like me) how close you can park to the store entrance, you will find a close one. If you are really concerned with it, you will end up with a spot at the farthest end of the lot. \*\* I totally agree! believe a park will be there and it usually is for me too. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/49 "2003-09-12T06:34:12Z")
I can fold any bill of money into a bowtie. I can do a pretty good Mae West impression. I’m pretty good at predicting the sex of a baby before it’s revealed. ---
**Author:** ![2leftshoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/bc8723/32.png) [@2leftshoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2leftshoes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/50 "2003-09-12T06:35:24Z")
i can smoke a pack of cigarettes in under an hour. yes i can. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/51 "2003-09-12T06:40:34Z")
I have an amazing memory for completely useless information. For example… tell me your name and I’m apt to forget it ten minutes later. However, I _can_ give you the name of the obscure actress who was in a movie I saw once, 12 years ago. Seriously, it’s happened. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/52 "2003-09-12T06:40:51Z")
A list of the utterly useless skills I have: whistle by both blowing and sucking…I can do this super-easy because I learned to whistle by sucking long before I could ever do it by blowing. snap the tune to any song I know pick up things with my feet put my legs behind my head (I am male, BTW) I also have the ability to NEVER ask a girl out because I am too shy and also get a C in a class that I only did half the HW for and got a D or F on all the tests. ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/53 "2003-09-12T06:53:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by madmonk28 \* > \*\*You know what I mean. What pointless skill do you have that gives you disproportionate pride? > > Here’s mine: I live in the DC area and I am very skilled at picking a spot to stand in the metro so that when the train arrives the doors open right in front of me. My GF thinks it is uncanny. > > What’s yours? \*\* Heh, the BART trains here have markings on the platform to delineate where the doors will be when the train stops. I can move my navel from side to side without moving the rest of my body. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/54 "2003-09-12T06:56:26Z")
I can remember nearly anyone’s birthday. I have birthdays of people I barely know/dislike intensely stored in my brain. Tell me once and it almost never leaves. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/55 "2003-09-12T07:10:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SnoopyFan \* > \*\*I can remember nearly anyone’s birthday. I have birthdays of people I barely know/dislike intensely stored in my brain. Tell me once and it almost never leaves. \*\* October 10th. Now you have to get me something. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/56 "2003-09-12T07:15:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I do a dead-on impersonation of Krusty the Klown. I would LOVE to be able to do that. I can clap with one hand, like Cecil mentioned in one of his books. Well, a reader wrote in about his skill at it. ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/57 "2003-09-12T07:29:35Z")
I can walk on my hands, do the splits and do flicks. Utterly useless, except for amusing myself. ---
**Author:** ![Plankspanker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Plankspanker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plankspanker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/58 "2003-09-12T10:25:32Z")
Saving throws in AD&D. i ALWAYS guess odds or evens correctly. every time. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/59 "2003-09-12T10:36:02Z")
I can flare my nostrils rapidly, like a rabbit. Nothing else on my face moves, not even my nose, just my nostrils moving out and in. I can “wag” my tongue side to side rapidly in my lower mouth. It makes a flapflapflapflap sound against my gums. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942/60 "2003-09-13T05:43:02Z")
I can pop almost any movable joint in my body. I can pop almost all of my spine, even the thoracic vertebræ, though it takes a bit of contortion. I can pop my fingers and toes, my wrists and ankles. I can pop my knees and my jaw, too. And if I step on my foot right, I can pop my tarsals. I sound like a case of toothpicks being run over by a bulldozer when I get up in the morning. I’m also immune to poison ivy and can capable of sitting _seiza_ for long periods of time without discomfort. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-silly-skill/200942.md?page=4)