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Original poster

Do you have a unique skill which is absolutely useless??

106 replies

AutumnAlmanack · 26/12/2021 08:57

If I wake up during the night, I am able to tell the time almost exactly before I look at the clock! I don't know how I do it! Such a completely useless skill but I thought it might be a fun topic for a dull Boxing Day!

OP posts:
Theoldcuriosityshop · 26/12/2021 09:08

I can do that as well Grin

MissMinutes24 · 26/12/2021 09:08

I do a really good dolphin impression

Mybalconyiscracking · 26/12/2021 09:11

I can remember the song lyrics of every song I have ever heard more than 3x….and yet I forgot to turn the bath off this morning.

beccahamlet · 26/12/2021 09:14

I can do the telling the time thing too. Often to the minute. Sometimes a minute or 2 out. How do we do it? I can also write in a mirror image. So if you hold it up to a mirror you can read it as normal. Apparently Leonardo da Vinci could do it. It is common in people with autism, but I am NT.

ArblemarzipanTFruitcake · 26/12/2021 09:18

I have an amazing memory for song lyrics.

It's useless because I can't sing remotely in tune - my 'singing voice' sounds like the drone on a set of bagpipes.

I've also been told my impression of Boris Johnson is spot on - but being able to sound exactly like a useless plonker isn't necessarily flattering! Grin

Justkeeppedaling · 26/12/2021 09:18

I can do the time thing at any time if the day. I think it may be to do with the light. It does impress people.

ArblemarzipanTFruitcake · 26/12/2021 09:19

I can also write in a mirror image

I can do this but only with my left hand (I'm right-handed).

Littlewhiteballs · 26/12/2021 09:25

If I hear something drop in another room I can usually tell what it was and what it fell on just from the sound. The dc think I have eyes everywhere.

SmallGreenStripes · 26/12/2021 09:29

Yep, I can write rhyming couplets. Rather twee ones.
Not useless, but very very rarely useful!

DogDaysNeverEnd · 26/12/2021 09:30

I used to have to cross a busy road on my way home from school that was a blind corner coming up a hill. I could 99% of the time listen and know what model car was about to come around the corner. I was also fascinated with number plates and phone codes and knew where they were all from (in the UK). If only my brain would hold useful things...

WoodenReindeer · 26/12/2021 09:32

I have a crazy high IQ and can do very well in exams. Unfortunately this hasn't translated well into real life success...

beccahamlet · 26/12/2021 09:39

@ArblemarzipanTFruitcake. I am right handed and do it with my right hand. I think your way round is more usual.

GalacticGoddess · 26/12/2021 10:32

If it's pitch black and there is a spider or other large creepy crawly in the room I can sense it and will say to DH, turn on the light, and lo and behold, some frightening spectator. 🕷
I can also recite the alphabet backwards, as we were made to learn it in infant school (not sure why) - but I can't tell the time on a clock!

Magnited · 26/12/2021 11:42

With two copper rods I can locate a source of moving underground water on open land. By moving over the area a few times, I can normally pinpoint the line of the flow, it’s strength and gauge it’s direction.

Seriously79 · 26/12/2021 11:44

I don't think I've got any remarkable skills, but DP had the ability to make a mountain out of a molehill 🤣🙄

erinaceus · 26/12/2021 11:46

I can also recite the alphabet backwards. I was taught it as part of some sort of summer camp circa 1990, I would have been about 5. The whole camp learned it as a rhyme, chanting it together in a circle.

I look back and wonder what on earth possessed the camp leaders to pull that off???

rifling · 26/12/2021 11:48

I can smell things that most people can't. Tbf I did once detect an underground gas leak so that was useful but normally it's not.

DropYourSword · 26/12/2021 11:49

I can roll my tongue big ways at the same time. Utterly useless

DropYourSword · 26/12/2021 11:50

*both ways

x2boys · 26/12/2021 11:58

@erinaceus

I can also recite the alphabet backwards. I was taught it as part of some sort of summer camp circa 1990, I would have been about 5. The whole camp learned it as a rhyme, chanting it together in a circle.

I look back and wonder what on earth possessed the camp leaders to pull that off???

Probably take keep everyone occupied for a while 🤣 I know a few campfire Rhymes off by heart from my days as a girl guide I can make serviettes into fans so they can stand up by themselves in the table ,I have impressed a few people with this skill 😂
x2boys · 26/12/2021 11:59

@DropYourSword

I can roll my tongue big ways at the same time. Utterly useless
I can do that!
oohmamama · 26/12/2021 12:02

I can write backwards with both hands and talk backwards and read upside down. My 5 year old
can do all this too. It’s weird and useless.

Quidity · 26/12/2021 12:03

My unique skill is quite useful - cat brings many live mice into the house - I have learned to catch them with my bear hands and set them free Halo

Ibane · 26/12/2021 12:07

I am very good at hand-milking cows. I mean, it’s not useless as skills go, and it might be my post-apocalyptic world USP, but even dairy farmers use machines, so it’s fairly niche, especially as I live right in a city centre where the nearest cow is pretty distant.

NarcissaMalfoysManicure · 26/12/2021 12:09

Words taste like things to me! It’s a form of synaesthesia. Totally useless but quite a fun party trick.