Do you have a pointless superpower?

[GnomeDePlume]

You know, that thing you can do which others cant but which is surprisingly useless.

Mine: I tie shoelaces upside down which is great if I am tying someone else's shoelaces but means my own are upside down (ie loose ends at the top of the knot). This was a useful skill when DCs were little but now they are in their 20s and dont need me tying their shoelaces.

DH: putting up coving - he can just see all the cuts he needs to make so there is almost no wastage. The house is perfectly coved. We dont redecorate often enough for him to use this skill.

Anyone else have a pointless superpower?

[Longdistance]

When I worked in a small building society I used to remember all my customers names, they loved it. I knew silly little details like the holiday they went on, kids, families etc.
I have a tone of voice and a ‘look’ with kids that they end up doing as they’re told.

[Pieceofpurplesky]

I see images in things. For example I will
Look at a tree and see the branches making the shape of a horse.

[LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow]

Ear clicky thing
Colour carrying in head
Phone thing....but with a specific twist....I would ALWAYS know when it was a call for me at work
Level...I can tell if things are not level/straight/flush
Space.....dh is forever saying "we won't get it in the car/through the door/that soup won't fit in that tub" ...it will and it does


I also have an odd mechanical/car thing going on. I can drive a car and get a sense of something wrong. I have done this so many time that dh won't buy a secondhand car unless I have driven it. I have diagnosed an iffy gearbox, iffy clutch, iffy sparkplugs, brake issues, and something to do with the engine management system ...I don't know how, but it's a feeling and not because they are old bangers that are on the edge of collapse.
Also one car he had (Rover SD1) he couldn't start it from cold, I had to get up and do it, first time, every time :o

I also hear electricity, it's a little harder with modern stuff but I always knew if the tv was on at home as I walked by the house, and I interfere with radios...I can put a radio off station just by being in the same room, even DAB ones. It's impossible for me to tune in an old style one too, if it is crackly and I touch it, it will be perfect, if I try to find another station I cannot get it crisp because of this.

[angelcakebananabrain]

@Brissiegirl

I can write with both hands at sane time - left hand is mirror writing and right hand is correct way.

I used to be able to do this as a kid apparently, but the other way around but not anymore!

[GnomeDePlume]

I am reading through these and while absolutely fascinating I am still struggling to think of the international crisis for which we will be called on to save the day!

On the other hand as we stand dressed in spandex in the power pose we will be confidant that:

• we arrived approximately on time without checking our watches/phones
• the emergency shelters will be perpendicular, colour coordinated and neatly coved
• everyone's names and faces will be remembered
• shoelaces will have been tied
• catering in the form of pancakes will have been dealt with - at least for the first half dozen

[OpEd]

I can smell farts before they happen 😎

[CigarsofthePharoahs]

I always know when the phone is about to ring. Yes, even the land line.

My mum has a super power. She can tell if someone plays a musical instrument and what it is, just by looking at you.
She kept everyone entertained in a long queue for food recently. She was right every time, including the fact that the cashier was a singer.

[Leafyhouse]

I can lick my nose with my tongue. Plus I'm the only person I know that's right handed but left footed.

[BillywigSting]

I'm another one with an excellent sense of smell, which I would honestly rather not have. Nice smells don't smell nice when they're very intense, bad smells smell worse and public transport is decidedly unpleasant.

There are far too many soap dodgers out there.

I can also smell sickness /disease, including parkinsons /alzheimers. Which is also not ideal since I work in a nursing home where practically every resident has one or the other. They never, ever smell properly clean. The upshot of which is when they are under my care they all get a good scrub whether they need it or not.

[sashh]

I have teo, one is that I can tell things are different weights, even by a small amount.

I didn't know this was just me until I mentioned to my care something about one of my kindles being heavier. After experimenting with me having my eyes closed he weighed them, there was something like 2g difference.

The other is useful, I can tell how long things need to cook, carer called me a witch when I stood up and was half way to the kitchen when the roast popped up.

Oh another one my carer finds odd, I can pick things up with my feet. So if I spill some water in the kitchen, I will drop a cloth over it, use my feet to wipe it and then pick the cloth up. I only use my hand to move the cloth from the foot to the sink.

[Faircastle]

I can smell when someone is coming down with a cold (from about 24 hours before they develop symptoms). It was occasionally useful when my children were small. In these days of social distancing, I don't get close enough to anyone to use it.

[KitchenDancefloor]

I'm telepathically linked to my oven timer. I will get up from whatever I'm doing to walk to the kitchen and arrive bang on the second when the timer beeps.

Nothing burns on my watch.

I also manage to cook everything at 180°c fan for 15-20mins (apart from roast dinners). I ignore the packet instructions and food is always cooked perfectly.

[viques]

@LadyPlasters

I'm good at untangling knots. Like bracelets and necklaces etc. This superpower is rarely used though... apart from untangling kids slinkys where I am hailed a superhero 🙂

I can do this too! I think in the future I might set up a market stall where people can bring me their tangled chains and I will restore them to glory. I find it both challenging and relaxing, but would still charge......


I am also good at releasing small children from coats when they have zipped the zips into the lining. I wouldn't charge for this service.

[letsgomaths]

@LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow With being able to hear electricity, I presume you mean hearing more than the high-pitched whistle old TVs used to make? Fascinating about interfering with radios. I'm sorry to say it, but it reminds me of that Mr Bean episode where he interfered with a shop window display of TVs, simply by walking past them.

[scrivette]

I can drive my car to 90mph and do a perfect 90 degree turn by stamping on the brake and slightly twitching the steering wheel, ending up facing the way I want to go and carrying on.

This is not something I find useful in my daily journeys or something I leaned on the road.

[TakemedowntoPotatoCity]

I can move each nostril, ear and eye independently of the other. (The ears are genetics, the eye due to lazy eye as a kid)

[LoveEatYoga]

I know where everything is including DH's stuff. If I've seen something or I was the one to put it there then I know where it was.

[CalmConfident]

I can see magic eye pictures instantly, in the mornings I can see the view from each eye at the same time - these 2 things must be linked!

[Oblomov20]

I can remember every single conversation verbatim. Someone will claim they said a/b/c and I will correct then and tell them they said c/b/and occasionally a. People hate it.

[LoveEatYoga]

I remember conversations too. I can remember everything that was said and in what order.

Maybe it's my memory that is my superpower

[Livpool]

I remember birthdays and know lots of pointless things. Good for a pub quiz but that is it

[Margotshypotheticaldog]

Calm confident do you ride horses by any chance? The peripheral vision thing is called using your soft eyes. It is a technique to take in the full field of vision when riding, especially useful on a jumpy nervous horse.

[HowFastIsTooFast]

I can't think of one for myself, but my Mum has an insane memory for meals she's eaten. Ask her what she had at X restaurant in Y city in May 2013 and she'll tell you right down to the last chip. It's bizarre.

[Judashascomeintosomemoney]

@FairIsleFenella

I've got a really strong sense of smell. Can be useful (I can spot a gas leak when no-one else can) but can be a real pain in the arse as nasty smells are everywhere. ASD son has the same trait, I've had to train him to not exclaim in a loud disgusted voice 'what's that smell?' whilst in people's homes/out in shops etc

Same. It’s horrible sometimes as being in the vicinity of anyone wearing a particularly noxious perfume can literally make me feel like I’m about to puke. Being in an enclosed space like a tube, train or plane is Hell on Earth for me due to this tbh. Though I’m not actually sure it meets the criteria of useless though as I have twice smelt gas in the house (even with doors and windows opened) and no one else could smell a thing but I decided to call the emergency number anyway. The TransCo (as was) guys came out both times and did the meter thing and said there was a gas leak but at the levels it was at they had no idea how I’d smelt it. I’ve decided this is quite useful as a result.

[TeaAndHobnob]

These are brilliant. What a great thread.

I have the same one as a pp - can read really fast. My normal relaxed reading speed is a page in less than ten seconds, I can read and enjoy a fairly fat novel in an hour or two. And have I good recall of what I have read as well - my husband tested me once in amazement at my reading speed