# Your Unusual Talent/Gift **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490 "2000-06-15T15:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/81 "2000-06-18T02:35:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\*I can hang a spoon on my nose, and before you make rude comments, I DO NOT have a big nose. > > > > I am just talented. > > > > Scotti\*\* > > No your not, I can do that to. :p\*\* So you are talented, too. Congratulations! When you figure out how we can make a buck on this talent, please let me know. Maybe we can take our act on the road? ---
**Author:** ![Kiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@Kiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiva)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/82 "2000-06-18T03:29:36Z")
I can wiggle my kneecaps up and down while standing. Everyone I’ve felt I could ask (in other words, people who wouldn’t look at me weird or run away) can’t do it. I can also rapidly bounce/vibrate my knees up and down, while sitting, for extended periods of time, without making any conscious effort to keep it going. I can make my tongue undulate or ripple. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e68b1a/32.png) [@Evil\_Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Twin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/83 "2000-06-18T05:29:08Z")
I can talk to dolls and they answer me. Sometimes they do my bidding. ---
**Author:** ![StompyGodzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@StompyGodzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StompyGodzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2000, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/84 "2000-06-18T21:31:42Z")
I can touch my tongue to my nose. Right on the tip. Not that I do it often, mind. Only when drunk and when begged to by my friends. Stompy ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/85 "2000-06-19T04:17:01Z")
**JLPicard** : yes, I can (sometimes) hear the anti-shoplifting equipment in department stores, but I’ve never had that actually be painful. Is that a common occurance for you, or was it an abberation? ---
**Author:** ![Escanaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@Escanaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Escanaba)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/86 "2000-06-19T04:54:39Z")
I can dance in the dark. I often dance blindfolded, to help concentrate on where my feet are without moving my head to look. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/87 "2000-06-19T07:01:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Well I can do the TV thing, where I can tell you if the TV is on/off from the other room. I can too. In fact, I can tell if someone is watching TV if I walk by a house. Once, when I in twelfth grade, I walked into my trig class, and asked my teacher if there was a computer on anywhere. He thought I was crazy, but upon closer inspection, discovered that one of the little-used very old computers in the classroom was, in fact, on. He made me turn around and flipped the monitor switch on and off and I told him which way it was. He was extremely impressed. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/88 "2000-06-19T18:39:23Z")
Oookay . . . 1. I can play music on my throat, cheeks (as in near my mouth) and head, so far. I haven’t tried with my eyelids yet, though my brother (same one as in the other thread) is getting decent at stringing notes together on his. And by music I mean you can tell what song it is. 2. I can hold myself in a horizontal position as long as I want. Think pushup but with your elbows near your kidneys and your hands splayed out a bit past your waist. I can seriously hold this for minutes at a time once I have myself properly set up. 3. I can burp on command with no liquid beforehand. I don’t know if that’s common but I know of only three other people (all related) who can do that. 4. As Brunetter knows, I can, usually by the time the first verse is done, have a harmony for that melody line completely up. It is a rare song that eludes my musical grasp in this respect. 5. Not a neat thing, but I can do a funky adaptation of the claw from LiarLiar. 6. I can make my head vibrate. 7. I can make my scalp move in two directions simultaneously, though not the way you think. You all can do that as well, though. 8. I know there are people who can do this better than I can, but I have done in excess of 150+ pushups in a row. I forget the actual number but it was a good size. BTW the world record is over 8,000. That’s about all I can think of for now. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/89 "2000-06-19T20:45:58Z")
I kin reach around behind my head and cup my jaw. Try it, only people I know who can do this are family members. I kin make my eyes move independently - look to the left, turn my left eye inward so I’m looking cross-eyed, then turn my right eye outward so I’m looking to the right. Really freaks people out. I kin whip the tip of my tongue up and down incredibly fast. This last one is my only talent with a functional purpose 😛 V. ---
**Author:** ![Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/90 "2000-06-19T20:56:06Z")
> [@](#): > > **I kin reach around behind my head and cup my jaw. Try it, only people I know who can do this are family members.** Hey, we must be separated at birth. I can do this one too!! ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/91 "2000-06-19T21:04:05Z")
My talents: 1. photographic memory–I made perfect scores on high school final exams without cracking a book all year. Also, if I say “I read somewhere that…”, you can be 98% sure of it. 🙂 2. Target shooting–Really weird since I’m left-handed, but I’m actually pretty good with pistols and most rifles (except for those stupid “bullpup” stocks that place the action directly beside your head, they tend to put the red-hot brass into a southpaw’s ear) 3. explosives–no comment 😉 * * * If each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body, then only left-handed people are in their right minds. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2000, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/92 "2000-06-20T00:47:42Z")
I can spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis and floccinaucinihilipilification. I can hum and whistle at the same time, producing a bagpipe-like noise. I use my beard to stimulate nipples. I make the best dip you ever tasted. I can recite, in order, the stations on every line of the Montreal metro. I am undefeated at Capitals of Countries, matching symbols to elements on the periodic table, and matching plots to episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/93 "2000-06-20T01:21:35Z")
Well, I can flip a waiter’s tray completely around ( Right side up, upside down, rightside up) with a dish on it and not spill the dish, drop it or the tray. Ask anyone who was at the B-more/DC dopefest last weekend. ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/94 "2000-06-20T13:51:40Z")
my god **swimmingriddles** , it’s one surprise after another with you. so can you fold your tounge in a clover shape while reciting The Jabberwocky AND shaking your booty african dance style? i’d buy that for a dollar! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/95 "2000-06-20T15:11:51Z")
matt\_mcl: is the pneumo word different from pneumonicultramicroscopicsilicavulcaniconiosis? This one isn’t so much a talent, but I have 20/10 vision, which will come in handy should I ever want to cheat in school. I can also read just about anyone’s handwriting, which comes from A. having shitty handwriting, and B. reading my father’s shittier handwriting. I can also (and this is an admission of experimentation) store things in . . . ah . . . places the sun don’t reach. For periods of time exceeding three hours. This would probably come in mighty handy for drug trafficking and storing keys for a pair of handcuffs, or a hairpin, ir money, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2000, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/96 "2000-06-20T18:12:24Z")
Iam: You misspelled it. ```auto Yours: pneumonicultramicroscopicsilicavulcaniconiosis Right: pneumon **o** ultramicroscopicsilic **o** v **o** lcan **o** coniosis ``` Look it up. ---
**Author:** ![bovary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e68b1a/32.png) [@bovary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bovary)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/97 "2000-06-21T20:10:15Z")
I can whistle blowing out or sucking in. ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/98 "2000-06-21T20:38:27Z")
Hmmm…_thinks_ I’m a chat ho, does that count? And I can sing damn near any Indigo Girls song from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Brunetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/99 "2000-06-21T21:32:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*I have two: > > 1. My tongue takes just about forever to get tired. > > 2. I have never been lost. I may not know where I am, but I can always get to where I was. This includes such things as driving straight to a Taco Bell in South Lake Tahoe that I had last visited 15 years ago. Or hiking untrailed woods and returning exactly to my starting place. Doesn’t sound particularly great, but it is useful. > > 3. Did I mention my tongue?\*\* I am COMPLETELY stunned that no one has commented on this yet. Obfusciatrist … how do you EVER have time for the SDMB? > [@](#): > > **4. As Brunetter knows, I can, usually by the time the first verse is done, have a harmony for that melody line completely up. It is a rare song that eludes my musical grasp in this respect.** Punha and I share this talent. I earned the nickname “Harmony Whooore” from my friends as “I’d do ANYTHING for harmony …” ---
**Author:** ![Bucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Bucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bucky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490/100 "2000-06-22T15:18:11Z")
I can improvise Shakespeare, usually in rhymed couplets. My other talent is in impromptu speaking. If you ever did college speech, you know that you generally receive a quotation (or two) and must both prepare and deliver the speech inside of 7 minutes. I usually was ready in about 20 seconds with a wide range of topics. Bucky [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-unusual-talent-gift/22490.md?page=6)