Do you have any skills or expertise that would amaze others?

  • Thread starter Alex_Sanders
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Skills
In summary, some of the hidden talents mentioned in the conversation include being bilingual, having good long-term memory, being able to juggle 3 balls and balance objects, being knowledgeable about 90's movies and able to play musical instruments well. Other skills mentioned include being able to recognize aquarium fish and perform mental calculations, having a good sense of smell, being able to tell the difference between different types of Coca-Cola, and having an amazing social obtuseness. Some of these talents may not amaze others, but they are still impressive skills to have.
  • #1
Alex_Sanders
73
0
I do not. I'm bilingual, but one of them is Americanese so it doesn't stand out much, I can perform 4 digit calculation in my head within 30 seconds but my niece is catching up fast and she's only 3rd grade. I have good long term memory, but have to prove that in at least ten years.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
Yup.
 
  • #3
Danger said:
Yup.

What, brevity?
 
  • #4
I can juggle 3 balls. I've been able to do that since I was 7 years old. I'm now 28 and can still only juggle 3 balls. Never made it to 4. But people are still impressed by that. Seems to me everyone should at least have the dexterity to juggle 3 balls. It's not hard.

I can also balance things really well. Like sticks. I can balance them on my chin and my foot. That's not hard either. I'm usually surprised at how bad people are at that.
 
  • #5
leroyjenkens said:
I can juggle 3 balls. I've been able to do that since I was 7 years old. I'm now 28 and can still only juggle 3 balls. Never made it to 4. But people are still impressed by that. Seems to me everyone should at least have the dexterity to juggle 3 balls. It's not hard.

I can also balance things really well. Like sticks. I can balance them on my chin and my foot. That's not hard either. I'm usually surprised at how bad people are at that.

Can you balance a stick and juggle at the same time?
 
  • #6
lisab said:
Can you balance a stick and juggle at the same time?

I can manage a stick and 2 balls at once. Most men can. :tongue:
 
  • #7
I can multitask, like walking, chewing gum and listening to music at the same time. Does that count? But it served me well for my career as fighter pilot.

Also, at age 12, some century ago, I would challenge anybody for quizzes about recognising aquarium fish (latin names). Currently that would be about facts pertaining the last glacial transition between 25K and 10K years ago
 
  • #8
I don't know if "amaze" is an apt word, but I can play guitar and sing well enough to make a living at it, though that was cut short by my inability to tolerate perfumes, colognes, and fragrances in fabric products. Too bad, because I could pull in over $30/hr for hosting open mic jams at taverns. Some less-experienced guitarists were "amazed" at my ability to play a song in any key that they specified. That was simple: just learn barre chords and learn to build leads out of runs associated with those chords. Guitar is a wonderfully transposable instrument, if you have the skills. When someone wanted to sing and had problems with the chosen key, out would come the capos. I never used one.
 
  • #9
lisab said:
Can you balance a stick and juggle at the same time?

Nope. And I can't juggle sticks. The flipping of them throws me off. I can balance balls, but it's hard. I can spin a basketball on my finger too.
So yeah, I can do a bunch of useless stuff.
I'm also apparently really knowledgeable about 90's movies. My friends bought a movie trivia game and there are about 100 or so questions for each decade and I got nearly every single 90's question right. For some reason movies and actors are something I remember well.
 
  • #10
Doesn't amaze my musical friends (or my kids), but some people are amazed that I can play several piano concertos pretty well (especially Rachmaninov 2 and Grieg) and also several violin concertos (especially Bruch no.1 and Tchaikovsky).

I can also juggle 3 balls or random objects of the right sort of weight, but not without occasionally dropping one!

Less seriously, I can whistle and hum at the same time in three-part harmony. (The second humming part sounds very similar to the first, but is actually a beat frequency selected by choosing the appropriate interval between the humming and whistling).

Even less seriously, I can whistle and hum two different tunes at the same time if I know them both well enough. (The examples I usually use here are the British National Anthem and Rule Britannia, but I also do requests). You do NOT want to hear that.
 
  • #11
I can clap with one hand, and I can tell the difference between Coca-Cola from a 330 ml can and a 500 ml bottle just by smell. Don't think anyone is amazed by it though. :smile: I can juggle 3 balls too, but for some reason, a lot of people can do that here in Sweden.
 
  • #12
I can multiply 13 digit numbers in my head. 2 trillion times 3 trillion is 6 septillion.
 
  • #13
I have a few hidden talents. Not sure if they really AMAZE others but eh, acquaintances are usually surprised when they find any of these out:

I can juggle 3, 4, 5 balls, that's kinda impressive I guess, I learned that in high school.

I can crochet, knit, macrame, weave, and whittle. (awe usually follows after I tell people I made the birthday/christmas/whatever gift I just gave them)

My last hidden talent is that I still have a 100+ mph serve in tennis even though I have only played 2-3 times a year since the high school state championships.

Although this isn't really "hidden" since I have a masters in classical trumpet performance, most of my science/academic colleagues don't realize my income is from being a professional musician, which usually amazes them ... the reverse is also true, where my musician friends often find it interesting that I'm going back to school for an MD/PhD.
 
  • #14
no. that would be, no.
 
  • #15
I have an amazing social obtuseness. Can be counted on to say "just the wrong thing".

But i used to be able to taste a Busch beer and name which brewery it came from.
 
  • #16
mathwonk said:
no. that would be, no.

I know a must-meet-minimum-character-requirement post when I see one - is that amazing?
 
  • #17
I can pour water into the coffee maker with highest rate of flow possible... are you ready? ... without spilling any.
 
  • #18
I can pick my nose while showering. :approve:
 
  • #19
arildno said:
I can pick my nose while showering. :approve:
Oh, yeah? Well I can shower without peeing in the shower.
 
  • #20
turbo said:
Oh, yeah? Well I can shower without peeing in the shower.

Can you keep from singing as well?
 
  • #21
arildno said:
Can you keep from singing as well?
If I can still hum.
 
  • #22
turbo said:
If I can still hum.
I'm glad I live far away from you. :smile:
 
  • #23
I can improvise on my guitar (it's like building some mathematical sequences for me really), but I rarely if ever play outside my room.

Sometimes I can even make some hoops from beyond the arc, it always seem to amaze the youngsters playing there (little toddlers), but I am not consistent with my shooting.
Can't dunk though... :-(
 
  • #24
I can make certain things disppear, e.g. a family-size bag of Cheetos.
 
  • #25
I am from Turkey and an expert of Turkish or Ottoman traditional music.
I can sing Turkish or Ottoman traditional songs at professional level.
I can play most of the Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical instruments at professional level.
I still work hard on music. I am 48 but my plan is to become the best musician of Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical history.
I think I am very close to that target.
 
  • #26
neyzenyelda said:
I am from Turkey and an expert of Turkish or Ottoman traditional music.
I can sing Turkish or Ottoman traditional songs at professional level.
I can play most of the Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical instruments at professional level.
I still work hard on music. I am 48 but my plan is to become the best musician of Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical history.
I think I am very close to that target.
Shame on you! That actually AMAZES me, in contrast to everything else given in this thread.
:smile:
 
  • #27
neyzenyelda said:
I am from Turkey and an expert of Turkish or Ottoman traditional music.
I can sing Turkish or Ottoman traditional songs at professional level.
I can play most of the Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical instruments at professional level.
I still work hard on music. I am 48 but my plan is to become the best musician of Turkish or Ottoman traditional musical history.
I think I am very close to that target.

That IS impressive. :approve:

I can eat turkey.
 
  • #28
turbo said:
Oh, yeah? Well I can shower without peeing in the shower.

Alternately, I can write my name in the snow.
 
  • #29
Ivan Seeking said:
Alternately, I can write my name in the snow.
I'm glad that I don't have a long name...
 
  • #30
turbo said:
Oh, yeah? Well I can shower without peeing in the shower.

I can't. It's automatic at this point. If I have to pee and I know I'm going to take a shower soon, I'll just hold it until I get in the tub and let loose. Why waste a flush?
 
  • #31
leroyjenkens said:
Nope. And I can't juggle sticks. The flipping of them throws me off.

While I was a security guard, I used to practice twirling my nightstick in the air and catching it by its handle. For a while, I kept track of how many times the stick would spin with still being able to catch it. After a while, I got to the point where it didn't matter how high or how fast it was spinning - I could just watch and kind of feel when I should reach out and grab it and never missed. By that time, I was throwing it so high and spinning it so fast that I couldn't count the spins anymore.

I would have been a pretty good beat cop in the days that policeman actually strolled up and down the street.

Of course, it did take a lot of practice to get to that point. When I quit that job and turned in my nightstick, the woman collecting my equipment stared at the nightstick and her only comment was, "Wow! I don't think I've ever seen one of these quite so..." and just shook her head.

Now a days, I guess my most amazing skill is that I'm really good at counting on my fingers and toes.
 
  • #32
Ivan Seeking said:
Alternately, I can write my name in the snow.

I can do that too, but you can't read it because of all the footprints.
 
  • #33
lisab said:
I can do that too, but you can't read it because of all the footprints.

:smile: that is funniest post I've seen
 
  • #34
Ivan Seeking said:
Alternately, I can write my name in the snow.

lisab said:
I can do that too, but you can't read it because of all the footprints.

You must be a belly dancer. :biggrin:
 
  • #35
@lisab; that would be yes.
 

Similar threads

  • General Discussion
Replies
16
Views
1K
  • General Discussion
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • Special and General Relativity
Replies
20
Views
825
Replies
2
Views
881
Replies
12
Views
1K
  • STEM Career Guidance
Replies
6
Views
1K
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
9
Views
1K
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
7
Views
1K
  • STEM Career Guidance
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • STEM Academic Advising
Replies
5
Views
1K
Back
Top