Is there something you're really good at, but never tell new friends etc. because...

[SaladandGravy]

... it sounds so highly unlikely you think people won't believe you?

I have one talent that sounds impossible (I may share later!!) but my great-grandma was about 4 feet nothing tall, not very agile but she could juggle with just about anything you could throw at her that she could physically hold (Diddy little hands too!). We used to just shout "oi Grandma" and throw 3 things at her. it was so funny, and she loved it too.

And my ex could turn a digestive biscuit 360° back to front and widthwaya without it breaking.

(Csn you tell I'm. bored?)

ComedyCook Well straight down Quiz night for you then! Will clean up probably!

@SquarePeggyLeggy you must be my twin.

A woman in the supermarket once asked for help buying loose potatoes and I looked in her bag, told her the weight and pointed out the scales.
She found me again and asked how i knew the weight just by looking.
I too was average at maths but brilliant at mental arithmetic and still add up my shopping as I go round.

My dsil is a musical whizz.
She plays lots of instruments and sings too.
My dd once wanted to play a song on her recorder but didn't know the notes. Dsil told dd to sing the song and then she wrote down the music like she was taking dictation.

I’m an overweight 54 year old single mum from a working class family and also a non executive director of multiple FTSE listed companies, including one based in New York. My previous jobs include scarily senior roles in global sports and a household name business. I generally just vaguely say I’m in marketing.

Also, can I just say, women are amazing. This thread is full of women who are just so fucking cool.

My talent is that I see logical inconsistencies as though they were lit up in flashing lights.

I also have good intuition over whether a complex, abstract idea 'makes sense' or is likely to work, which I think is an extension of the logical consistency skill, along with a good ability to synthesize lots of different information.

I work in IT, so these skills are quite useful!

@MsMeNz

My job, I live in a run down northern small town and overweight often seen ferrying kids around. Drive an older car. But I actually have a quite a high power job at a huge company at Canary Wharf. I rarely if ever talk about heat I do as I don't think ppl around here would believe it or even understand what it is.

Do you WFH then? What DO you do?

@Ruthietuthie

Similar to *@ThatsNotMyGolem*, I speak 15 languages, 9 fluently. I don't mention this as it would definitely seem boastful. It just doesn't come up, so some people I've known for years don't know. Learning languages is my thing. And it's also an essential part of my job (I conduct research in a part of the world where people use multiple languages everyday). My four year old son is tri-lingual too. I am so glad he was able to learn these languages without even having to think about it.

How brilliant ! Do you have any tips for learning a new language ?

Not especially unusual (in my opinion): reading things that are upside down. A useful skill. But people who can't do it think I am practicing witchcraft.

I can also read things that are both simultaneously upside down and written backwards but unless you are a letterpress printer using movable type that is not so useful. I'm slow at that though, my late Dad (who was a letterpress printer) could read it as fast as he could read "normally".

I’m laughing at the 'give a good blow job' one - like it's hard?

I have a sneaky suspicion that men tell all women that they give the best ever blowjobs, so that they get more blowjobs.

@Fairislefandango

Just came on to express my admiration for *@Ruthietuthie*! I'm a language teacher and speak 4 languages (one self-taught over the last few years). Learning languages is my favourite thing, and I'd do it full time if only someone would pay me to

But your list is staggering . Especially since they are mostly very difficult ones for a native English speaker to learn. I've always wanted to learn a language with a different script. I did a bit of Japanese before deciding Spanish would be much more useful!

I guess apart from foreign languages, my talent is spelling. I used to correct my teachers' spelling in primary school . I can both remember spellings without trying and have always been able to spell anything, even complicated words I've never heard of before.

I learned a tiny bit of Japanese before visiting the country. I was stunned by how beautiful and organised their grammar system is. It was like looking at the Marie Kondo of languages . And my mind was blown when I chatted to a Chinese woman who told me there are no tenses in Chinese - everything is present tense, because even if you are talking about yesterday or ten years ago you are, in the present reimagining it. It made me see life in a different way. I'd love to properly learn a language totally different from European languages partly to just see how the mindset is altered by the way the language frames the world.

I'm an above average singer, and quite a good mimic of singing styles. So can do a decent aria or Bluesy number. I've got a lot less confident about singing in middle age but occasionally I forget and sing out loud. People are often surprised and comment on my voice. I would have loved to have trained as a classical singer.

I haven't RTFL so not sure if anyone else has mentioned this - I have the ability to reverse words, phrases, sentences in my head at lightning speed. I do it all the time, it never stops. Drives me mad at times. I can say the reversal out loud (so talk backwards); only my close family and possibly 1 or 2 very close friends know about it, and I rarely display the backwards talking (very rare occasions when I've had a couple of drinks). It's not something I've learned or practised, just always been there. I've googled and researched over the years and there are other people around the world with the same abulity/curse, some who have managed to monetise it; I wish I could but am too provate/shy.

@FloodTheBathroom

I also have a really good memory, so meet someone once, they may casually drop in their brother is off to New York and the next time I see them I could ask, how was your brother's trip? I don't recall stuff like this anymore as people actually hate it and find it creepy. Plus I am hugely unmemorable so people forget meeting me let alone disclosing family member's trips!

You could be me!! Though I struggle with names but remember in-depth conversations almost word for word!

My only skill is finding favourite products which will without fail be immediately discontinued as soon as I announce it’s a favourite. Doesn’t matter if it’s a new product or one that’s been around for years, as soon as I say ‘oh I love these biscuits/crisps/bubble bath’ or whatever the clock starts ticking and within a couple of months they will disappear from the shops.
It’s very annoying.

@Feather12

I can sleep on planes (even the cheap seats!). I rarely see the end of a runway and I need to be woken when we land. People don’t like hearing that, especially if they can’t.

This is the single skill listed here I’d give good money to have

I learned a tiny bit of Japanese before visiting the country. I was stunned by how beautiful and organised their grammar system is. It was like looking at the Marie Kondo of languages. And my mind was blown when I chatted to a Chinese woman who told me there are no tenses in Chinese - everything is present tense, because even if you are talking about yesterday or ten years ago you are, in the present reimagining it. It made me see life in a different way. I'd love to properly learn a language totally different from European languages partly to just see how the mindset is altered by the way the language frames the world.

Yy to all of this. Learning a bit of Japanese blew my mind! I really want to go back to it, but I had practical reasons to swap to Spanish (I'd always taught French and German, but German is pretty much dead in British state schools, so I needed to adapt). Absolutely loving Spanish, and don't have the time to do both!

@HazelBite

I can look at a colour on a piece of paper/paint/fabric carry it in my head and match it up colourwise with another item, anyone else would take a colour swatch with them but I don't need to.

I can do this too. It means I can easily choose thread for fabric.

I can fold my tongue in half.

I can make any nervous dog chill out. It's mostly the owners fault they are anxious.

@TheWayTheLightFalls

I’m a bit of a Cassandra - I can look at a situation and predict pretty actually what will happen and how. I’m not quite sure how it works but I think I just have a very good grasp of people’s motivations and behaviours and can quickly apply them. I tend to just keep my mouth shut but write things down so that I know I’m not going crazy.

Oh me too. I've often called a situation with friends/family before it happens and get a funny feeling in my stomach when I 'predict' it. I only really tell my DH because I don't want to come across as a bit weird. Also some of the predictions have been sad and not news you want to share.

I can guess how much our shopping gonna cost by the amount of items on the conveyor belt... usually with a £ or two.

My husband says my talent is always
Picking the most expensive thing when we have to choose something.... anything... without knowing prices... I will always manage to pick the most expensive things

DH's uncle can speak six languages fluently and worked for the Diplomatic Service.

I can speak one other language fluently (German) and French and Italian to GCSE. I have done lots of Futurelearn courses though so have a basic knowledge of a few more (Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish). But none of them well enough to boast about.

So sad that a pp says German is dead in UK state schools. It was taught in my son's state school but not for his year group - he did Spanish and they only let people do one language for GCSE.

I don't have any talents though - no party tricks

@Pigeontoed

I haven't RTFL so not sure if anyone else has mentioned this - I have the ability to reverse words, phrases, sentences in my head at lightning speed. I do it all the time, it never stops. Drives me mad at times. I can say the reversal out loud (so talk backwards); only my close family and possibly 1 or 2 very close friends know about it, and I rarely display the backwards talking (very rare occasions when I've had a couple of drinks). It's not something I've learned or practised, just always been there. I've googled and researched over the years and there are other people around the world with the same abulity/curse, some who have managed to monetise it; I wish I could but am too provate/shy.

Me too! I mentioned it upthread. I have no idea how I can do it and I also find it annoying sometimes as it's all the time in my head.

One thing I can do which isn't rare, but not everyone can do it, is reading words where the middle letters are switched around and only the first and last letters are the same. Lkie tihs.

I think it has meant I have avoided needing reading glasses until close to my 50th birthday as my brain does a lot of the work for me if words are not clear.

I never forget a face once I've seen it.

I can be watching a movie, and say "I saw that actress 30 years ago, in XX film" and I will always be right.

I remember meeting a woman at a house party once - spoke to her for 5 minutes. About 10 years later, I met her at work, and I knew instantly that we'd had a 5 minute chat at that party 10 years before. She didn't remember me.

My late mil knew if you were pregnant before you knew yourself. When the announcement was made public she often asked women why they didn’t tell her the last time they met?

I'm really good at anything to do with reading comprehension, lit crit, grammar, spelling, verbal reasoning etc. I take really easily to anything wordy.

I was reading at university level at 7. Got the highest marks in my school during standardised testing. One year I had to redo the test because they'd assumed my result was a statistical anomaly.

My mum always made it seem like it was pointless, though, so I never did anything with it. And my dad/wider family never recognised it at all - I'm definitely not seen as clever, I don't think.

No one who knows me would ever know. (And it's not the kind of thing you can tell people, lol!)