[Market Research] What’s the Most Pointless Skill You’ve Mastered?
0Maybe you can perfectly peel an orange in one spiral.
Maybe you know how to restart a router with a single toe tap.
Maybe you can name every Mega Man boss in order by game.
What’s your most useless but fully mastered skill?
Brag about it here. No judgment.
(Maybe a little bit of judgement.)
- 17 comments, 39 replies
- Comment
I used to be able to name EVERY SINGLE PIKMIN ENEMY. (No Hey! Pikmin. Mainline games only.)
@Wollyhop we clearly said pointless.
@jouest AFAIK, you don’t get points in-game for being able to name them, so “pointless” by the strict definition.
Some skills were useful when you learned them, and are not so useful anymore. I used to be able to calculate the IV drip rate for any type of IV tubing. Now the pump does it so it’s totally useless.
@Cerridwyn
As an EMT I was able to do that in the back of a truck. It’s still pretty straightforward. In fact I usually thumb-roll my non critical lines to this day…
How to use a slide rule.
@Kidsandliz this one’s legit.
@jouest And back then a dollar tree calculator cost 100 bucks. We won’t discuss what that would be now with inflation.
Spend money I don’t have.
@heartny mastered
@heartny
Yeah I’m real good at that one too. To good at.
I can speedily spot minor misspellings, tiny typos, micro-misalignments, “inconsequential” inconsistencies, grave grammatical groaning, and so much more! with extremely little effort.
That’s not actually a [pointless] skill I’ve mastered, it’s more of a curse I was born with.
It would be nice if I had a job as an editor or something similar where my attention to detail was appreciated rather than shunned, but whatcha gonna do?
Fwiw, the text I quoted was to point out how “judgment” was spelled two different ways, practically back-to-back. The “judgement” caught my eye as I was reading, but wouldn’t have been worth bringing up if not for the inconsistency.
Officially,
judgmentis the “correct” spelling on this side of the pond, whilejudgementis the foreigner — even though it’s better at keeping the spelling rules. It’s not the sort of thing worth fretting about too much, especially since the “wrong” one looks more correct, but now you’re cursed with that knowledge. (or maybe not)@xobzoo we play both sides so we always come out on top.
@xobzoo like color/colour, tire/tyre, aluminum/aluminium etc
@sillyheathen @xobzoo Spelling inconsistencies are just a minor scratch on the surface; the disparity of meaning of “pudding” across the pond is one prime example of “spelled the same, does not share meaning.”
start@xobzoo
Buying useless crap online because the price is cheap. Got it down to a science.
Raising one eyebrow at a time.
@kittykat9180 Doesn’t get useless especially if you’re a teacher or a grandparent!
@kittykat9180 can you also alternately raise each eyebrow in a smooth, continuous motion? That is the mark of a real pro.
@macromeh I cannot.
@jkawaguchi I’m neither a teacher or a parent (therefore can’t be a grandparent). I don’t like kids, so I generally avoid them.
@kittykat9180 @macromeh I can.
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh Welcome to the elite.
@kittykat9180
@macromeh So I take it you can.
@kittykat9180 @Kyeh While standing on one foot and whistling Beethoven’s Fifth…
@kittykat9180 @macromeh
whistling Beethoven’s Fifth is the most impressive thing of all!
@kittykat9180 I can do that while wiggling both my ears and nose at the same time. I going places, baby!
@capnjb
I worked at Toys “R” Us back in the early 2000s. I could ring people out by typing SKUs on the 10-key faster than most of my coworkers could check someone out using the scanner.
I also mastered the ability to text on my phone, using a T9 keyboard without looking at the screen while I typed my message
Neither of these skills is useful anymore
@user63609161 T9 FTW!!!
Anyone who thinks otherwise is a CITAG!!
@user63609161
I worked at damman hardware as teenager and ran the service desk in the evenings, I had all the miscellaneous codes for stuff memorized so when the manager would ring people up she would always ask me what they were. I could also cut keys to perfection, not like it’s hard.
@user63609161 I loved T9, I could type without looking as well.
Then along came iPhones, ruining the usefulness of the skill.
I can cloverleaf my tongue.
@brainmist Whoa. I never knew this was a thing. I can roll mine but not cloverleaf it!
@Kyeh it takes a bit of practice, but basically it’s rolling and folding at the same time.
@brainmist @Kyeh I’m pretty sure there are genetics involved in that skillset.
(and/or mutations… heh)
I am fluent in Pig Latin. This skill is only useful in very limited settings.
I’m a master of garage saling and kids crafts.
Tea ceremony
https://www.storynory.com/the-samurai-and-the-tea-master/
Apparently also remembering fairy tales to tell kids at bedtime.
@pakopako Oh wait, I can also beat Super Mario Bros. with my feet.
@pakopako I just started reading Far Side comics, and I love them so much.
@pakopako @Wollyhop The Far Side is great. This is one of my favourites.
@pakopako @Wollyhop @yakkoTDI I always loved Gary Larson! This is a great cat-related one:
@pakopako @Wollyhop @yakkoTDI And this is a perfect depiction of how my mother always saw me as a kid. I can’t say she was wrong.
:
I can count change backwards, which most cash registers no longer require you to do - they just tell you what it should be.
@Kyeh I remember when I first saw one that didn’t just give the change amount but also told people how to count it.
Change = $0.41
1 Quarter
1 Dime
1 Nickel
1 Penny
@Kyeh @yakkoTDI
Ooohhh… Good one!
@chienfou @yakkoTDI
Thanks!
Telling time on an analog clock. Also, dialing a rotary phone. Yep, i crested the hill awhile back.
@ircon96 Ooo, also - writing in cursive! I still do that and if someone can’t read it that’s their problem.
@Kyeh That’s right, add that to the list! I often wonder if some of the whippersnappers these days even know what a pen is, much less how to write in cursive! It makes me feel like a shriveled husk; i think I’ll wander off into the woods & die now.
Axe throwing.
Mrs. Capn (Tennille?) won’t let me keep a rifle at my desk so I have a CRKT tomahawk for home defense
@capnjb “Toni” sounds like a wise woman.
Not real woodworking apparently.
