3w ago

What's an unexpected skill you have?

I mean, what's something you can do that people are like, "really? You know how to do that?"

102 comments

I’m a father living in Japan, so any competent display of childcare is still met with shock and confusion.
- This is very interesting, could you please elaborate a bit? Are fathers not involved in parenting in traditional Japanese culture?
  
  I believe the father is still considered the breadwinner role.
  If you like humorous dramas: The way of the househusband (live action)
  A clip of the show: https://youtu.be/ktztBx-8onk
  If you want, I can give you access to the whole season :)
- What sort of things would be considered unusual childcare wise?

I'm a tall burly cisman so people are always surprised that I know how to sew. I mostly hand-mend my clothes but I made my own pants in high school when I had access to a sewing machine.
- Sewing fellas unite!
  I usually make hats and tool wraps, but I mend dresses or alter clothes for friends too.
- sewing is mine also. I don't think I've talked to a single person in the 15 years I've been sewing that hasn't reacted with shock to some degree or another upon finding out.
  i like repairing clothes and making backpacks.
- Hand-sewing is my "something to occupy my hands while watching tv" hobby. I usually take shirts that I buy at a thrift store and customize them (side panels to make them fit better, add lacy pieces, etc.).
- "Sewing is girly"
  Meanwhile boy scouts, military, and doctors sewing stuff all day long.
- I can sew, although I kind of hate it. Sewing is an essential skill if you own a sailboat and have no money.
  
  "own a sailboat and have no money" that's a redundant statement :]
- Sewing seems like a good hobby for anybody who likes to work with their hands. In my 20s my housemate let me borrow her sewing machine to put together a thinsulate jacket from a Frostline kit. It was a blast, but that was the last sewing I ever did.

I can cook a decent meal. I though it was a basic skill bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs etc. But almost everyone I know buys take away or makes the most basic of basic food.
- I'm learning this about young folk (17 - 40) - that they don't cook at all, just order delivery food. That is so unbelievably expensive! And unhealthy! I know cooking is a pain in the ass, but it's like cleaning and paying your bills - just something you gotta do.
  
  It infuriates me. People dropping half my weekly food budget on 1 meal just so some underpaid bastard can deliver it to ur door. Then they complain about cost of living. I would spend about a quarter as much as what most people I know do on food per week and I'm eating like a fucking king prime cuts of steek 3 times a week, fresh fruit and veg, the fancy bread, etc. And I'm still winning economically. And we haven't even got to the health benefits of not eating fake shit full of sugar 7days a week.
  
  Woah. I have some thoughts .
  All my kids can cook, and all their significant others can cook. I never thought of it as a pain though, more a creative outlet, and whoever cooks gets to eat what they want, right? I make what I want, everyone else eats that.
  One of my brothers went to school in New Orleans and told me he just ate out every meal there. And my mom only followed written recipes or made spaghetti, she didn't like to cook.
  Oh and when I was dating my now husband, one of his kids asked for "mashed potatoes made from potatoes" for his birthday. But he can cook now, his girlfriend has an Italian dad and his standards are high, lol. So both he & the girlfriend are good cooks now.
  My ex, he was the worst cook I have ever known, but learned at work and became a very good cook as an adult. Like exceptionally good, could take the produce that was going to be thrown out and make it into something customers would pay a lot for.

Have an intelligent discussion about theology.
I may look like your average idiot who is also atheist; but it's because I have a weird interest in theology and have read so many religious texts and interpretations of most major and some minor religions from around the globe. Some of them have some kick ass stories. Hell, some of them read like straight up sci-fi!
- [L Ron Hubbard's estate wants to know your location]
  
  Oddly enough, I haven't actually read Dianetics or any of his other sci-fi prior to going after "the real money in religion" for that matter.
  I kinda get the impression that Scientology is the one cult that using their own doctrine against them wouldn't quite have the same effect.
- I have found that atheists know more about religion than the typical believer.
- Uhhh, strong or agnostic atheism? And what's your take on Buddhism?

Roller skating. I'm super unathletic, but skating (including teaching to others) was listed in the profile of a girl who contacted me on a dating site, so after chatting for a bit I suggested that as our first date. She was super patient with me, I had never put on skates before that day, and was in my 30s.
We're married now, and I now also teach skating where she does on weekends, sometimes to people who have never tried it before.

After loosing some of my hearing and not being able to compose electronic music anymore, I basically retired from being a musician. Picked up drumming about 9 months ago and I'm surprisingly good at it.
- Oh hell yeah! I've been drumming for 20 years, it's the best instrument out there. Enjoy, it's hella fun!
  
  Cheers. It's really great and lots of fun. Already recording an album for a German band in the studio thanks to some amazing teachers out there.

Pretty much anything DIY. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, etc. I'm not an expert at any of those things but I can actually do a pretty decent job. I'm not afraid to research a project and take a crack at it myself. I've completed some really nasty projects that turned out well.
- Jack of all trades! After partly renovating three different houses successfully, I find myself in the same situation as you.
- Same as this but I can see any process 1x and adapt it to serve me.

Depends on unexpected for who. Most native english speakers seem surprised when they realise I understand "big words" (read: any word with a Latin root) without needing to look up a definition. To me it's pretty obvious. My native tongue is Spanish. Having an accent doesn't mean I don't know anything.
- English speaker here, it's especially true of technical words because science draws on Latin so much for terminology. Also, after 2 years of Latin in high school and then studying Spanish in college, I found a lot of Spanish words easy to guess.
- Examples?
  
  I remember this teacher in particular who was explaining something and said "dissipate". He paused and picked me out of the group, for no apparent reason, and asked if I knew what dissipate meant. I said yes. So he asked me to explain, which I did, and he looked surprised and said something like "you're on fire" or similar and carried on.
  That particular example stuck with me because of his condescending tone and for pointing the spotlight to me gratuitously, but I've had many, less memorable ones. It's not the words that I remember after a while, but that they presume I don't understand the meaning of a word apparently unusual for them. "Melancholy" and "quotidian" come to mind too.
  On the same vein, I also surprise English speakers when reading, writing and understanding scientific names. Not all of course, but many are descriptive of the creature they refer to if you know a latin language. What's often a mouthful of nonsense for native English speakers can sometimes be meaningful to me.

I have an uncanny ability to read super faded receipts, and old people's hand writing.

Patch making, and I've no idea why people are surprised about it tbh. It's really easy if you've got access to a printer (or you can trace from a screen) and a pair of scissors.
That said I have a slightly unusual process where I design stencils in fusion 360 and then print them on my 3D printer, they're durable and reusable that way. I'm still working on improving the final print quality, but I've had some really good results like this gigantic Ash Bricky back patch that took me ~20 hours over three days.
- I still have no clue about how you made that
- I recognise that patch!

I'm pretty old & geeky so people are often surprised I can do a great cartwheel. One trick pony when it comes to acrobatics, it's just the cartwheel.

Driving a manual transmission vehicle.
- This is funny, I drive manual in the US where even most pickup trucks now have automatic transmission, and the two groups who have been impressed (I am a middle aged lady) are valets and mechanic shops.
  I do think that for my 21 year old daughter it's an unusual skill and one she values. None of my other kids can drive my car, I had to teach that one because I let her use the car to go to college, I bike to work now since it's much closer than the school.
  My ex can drive the big trucks with like 16 gears. And both he & my husband can shift motorcycles with ease, I struggle. I guess it would get easier with practice.
  
  Yeah, I learned from my dad - who is a professional driver.
  It came in handy in the Army.
- Oh yeah, i always forget most people (at least in the US) can't. I learned to drive on a stick shift pickup and took my drivers license test in it 😁

I'm a massive nerd, no one is surprised by my ability to debug a printer or install an operating system.
They're generally surprised by my people skills and carpentry skills though!

I can click my tongue really, really loud. Like a baseball hitting a bat hard. Aside from making people jump, I have yet to find any practical use for this talent.
- Learn how to echolocate!
  
  Lol I thought you meant eat chocolate.

As I found out recently, drawing.
I took some classes in high school and only recently got back into it, and I’d consider myself..averageish? I know where I need improvements and I see the quirks and wonks, so to speak.
The people in my adult life who have seen my sketchbook make (positive) comments, which surprised me. Still, it’s nice.
- Drawing has always been super impressive to me. I pretty much gave it up in high school, but my husband is an incredible artist and I just always appreciate seeing what other people do. It seems like it's hella zen when you get into it. Awesome skill :)

I know how to can food and make preserves. I'm 46 M.

Lockpicking

predicting the future.
it's not like the movies, it's more like being tied to the train tracks in the direction the train is coming in, and people hate it when you talk about it.

I know how to spin a laptop on my finger
- That's aggressively anxiety inducing more than surprising
- I could do that, but probably only once.
- That is cool. Maybe don't tho.
- In this economy?

I can drill 6" into my nose, among other sideshow talents.
- Don't feel obligated to elaborate, but I'd love it if you would! That sounds super intriguing
  
  It's an act called human blockhead, but I do it with a Milwaukee power drill. I used to be a lot more active as a sideshow performer so I can do a lot of weird stuff. I also invented two fire eating moves.

I can work on/repair basically anything old. Things from a certain period and back just make sense, plain and simple.
I can shave with a straight razor, operate an oil lamp (and I have several throughout my house,) hell, I’m a musician, and I recorded on tape until 2014, using clunky, old multitrack tape machines, which I can also repair and maintain. (I still dream of getting ahold of an 8-track reel machine, a Tascam 80-8 or especially a 388. They are stupid expensive if you can find a working one at all.)

i can perfectly imitate the "adult voice" from Peanuts with just my mouth.

I have decent throwing aim. I can shoot most trash into the bin from a couple of meters away. With practice, I can probably increase my range.
I am pretty flexible for someone my size.
I have a pretty scary evil laugh that can scare the neighborhood children away.
- I can't throw any sort of ball to save my life, but in school I could sink a crumpled up piece of paper into the trash bin across the classroom with consistency that even shocked myself. I'm also deadly with rubber bands and have a knack for paper planes and projectiles made from broken pens.
  
  This reminds me of a job where my office buddy and I used to shoot rubber bands, paperclips, little wads of paper etc. at each other over the partition between our desks, or bank them off the wall. There was this guy Dave from another floor, who occasionally stopped in with a question for one of us, and I swear to god every time he came in was right when we were screwing around like that or laughing immediately afterwards. Every. Single. Time. Once while we were exchanging fire I even said something like, "Time for Dave to show up," and like 2 seconds later he walked in. We both busted up laughing. Dave developed a srsly bad attitude about us because he didn't think we ever did any work, but actually we were hella busy most of the time.
  
  Same! I was voluntold for the class basketball team because of my height. I was too unathletic for it, however, and I only lasted one week. However, like you, I can throw paper waste from almost anywhere in the classroom and shoot it into the bin. I can also shoot a worn-out piece of chalk to its container from the middle row. I was pretty lousy with paper planes though.
  The "throw trash into the bin" ability comes in clutch when I'm too lazy to stand up and put trash into the bin. That's where I got most of my recent practice!
- Because of the office layout at one of my jobs I developed exceptional skill at backhanding stuff into the trash bin diagonally behind me across the room. So when I made a home office I set it up the same way. People are always asking, "Why is your trash bin way over there?"

I can survive - until now

People are surprised that I can jodel a bit. My geeky high-schools self worked hard to build this skill.

I never forget a face
- I never forget a face but damn if I can remember their name. Drives my wife nuts, when she asks me who that was

I’m a crossing guard at school. My amazing trick is to balance the lollipop on my nose.
I also know some Shakespearean sonnets and the first page of finnegans wake by heart, but that’s usually more expected.
The most wow reaction i had from my sons’ friends was when i swore better than them. But then again, i once went on a two week tour to schools teaching the kids how to swear, so .., no big deal.
- i once went on a two week tour to schools teaching the kids how to swear
  I feel like this needs elaboration.
  
  Long story short: taught kids about swearing as s substitute teacher, got the principal (my mother) in trouble, wrote a manuscript about swearing, interviewed a linguist about religion for the humanist (atheist) magazine, she invited me to join her book project on swearing, the book was published, the «kulturelle skolesekken» (bringing culture to schools) invited me to tour the northernmost, most swearing part of Norway to talk about swearing.
  https://www.nettavisen.no/teacher-taugth-swearwords-in-religion-class/s/12-95-151785

Landscaping
My very first job at the age of 15 was working at a Nursery/ Garden Center. I also would work on the landscaping crews and even did some design work.
When my wife and I bought our house she said she always dreamed of having a big flower garden, but said she didn't know how to do it properly.
Well... I do. Even my Mother-In-Law, who is an experienced gardener, learned a few things from me. Although, I have to admit, she really does know a lot and I learned a lot from her as well.
Our flower beds are beautiful throughout the growing season with a huge variety of plants.

I'm a huge guy, 6'8" and immensely heavy, people do a double take when I tell them I can and do windsurf.

Juggle a football only with my weak foot.

Cooking. IDK why but everyone assumes I don't know how to cook. I must fit a stereotype or something. The last time I lived alone I cooked (or had leftovers of something I cooked) every night for like 8 months. I tell people that and they are always surprised. It's a big reason I hate living with roommates because the kitchen situation is so chaotic I can't really do that anymore.
- Same, and especially baking bread, which people seem to think is an involved, laborious process that requires dedication and being obsessed. I learned it on youtube lol. Making a loaf of really good bread takes like 10 minutes of actual work; the rest of the time it's making itself.

I surprise ppl with my drawing skills, and they always say my place is nice and cosy. Everyone who comes over for the first time gets weirdly surprised. I am not sure if that is a skill tho xD

Nobody expects me to be a baker. I damn near killed a stand mixer making bagel dough once xD

Juggle. I'm by no means a master, but I know my way around quite a few different juggling things. Balls, sticks, hoops, the two sticks you hold with the longer one you juggle in the middle, diabolos/Chinese yo-yos.

I am always amazed by my inability to fall on ice. I can lose my balance, but always catch myself at the last second.

People are surprised that I'm really good with horses. I'm a very short, timid person, but I can handle the huge animals with ease.

I'm able to forget most things my dad says ... he has an opinion of everything and will babble for 20 minutes about stuff no one else in the house cares about.
Also, I can picture a blueprint in 3d.

Compared to most people, I know a fuck ton of keyboard shortcuts making me look like a computer wizard.
- I've been criticized for that, lots of people say "use the mouse, it's better". I say "how is it better?". They say "it just is".
  The truth is that they can't do the keyboard shortcuts and are jealous.
  
  I'm certainly no vim wizard but just knowing a good number of shortcuts really saves time doing precise clicks and selections with your mouse

Somehow, it's a surprise to people that I'm a competent trumpet player. As if every high school in the state doesn't have a band class. Fully half of my graduating class in high school were musicians of some kind between chorus, orchestra and band classes. But somehow nobody expects a random dude in his mid-30's to pick up a trumpet and play a few bars of Ravel's Bolero.

I can put a needle in any body cavity (of someone else). Or a wire or a catheter. Besides the skull and a few more delicate ones I also know how to do that without actually killing the person. Well,at least not "certainly" killing... accidents happen.

I'm really good at hating myself.

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