Useless skills we are secretly proud of

I’ve just seen typing errors in my post which doesn’t say much for my glory of my 60wpm typing. I’ll blame it on my fat fingers and the tiny iPhone keyboard ... lol

I was excellent at Pitmans shorthand 120 words per minute and touch typing 60 words per minute I’m my RSA Stage 3 exams. Both still stand me in good stead and I’ve used them all my working life for note taking and such.
I now use shorthand to take notes during amy relevant telephone conversation and if I want to note something private in my daily diary.
Touch typing means I just fly through typing emails etc. This is why I always attach a proper keyboard to my devices.
And my filing system, although only in a large box under the bed, for household affairs is a work of wondrous efficiency.

When I first met my dh his idea of filing was cramming all into several drawers. To find something meant going through all of the drawers every time. Eventually I convinced him that a folder containing ‘documents’ meant he could easily find a birth certificate if required.

A useless aspect is that I don’t really need to keep the receipt for my 12 year old sofa or the last 3 electric kettles !!

I know the lyrics to loads of songs, but as my friend says not much good when you don't know the tune! I'm also ambidextrous and remember all the nursery rhymes.

Blue Sky, it's true everyone can type these days but can they really touch type at the speed of sound? I still use Pitmans to label removal boxes with the contents and to take down telephone messages.

I couldn't whistle to save my life.

I've always been good at mirror writing.

All the posts re part remembered languages have reminded me that I can still sing ‘Dominique’ by the Singing Nun in French! Must have been an exercise. First line of Caesar’s Gallic Wars has never left my brain either.

Oh I wish I could do a piercing whistle! I do have a crazy memory for useless information - not so useless as I managed to win The Weakest Link with it!

I can do the deaf alphabet which we had to learn in Junior Red Cross when I was about 10.

Well, I've just tried it and found I've forgotten "r" and "z"dor the moment. Must look them up.

I can do shorthand. I can do British sign language. I can remember parents Dividend Number (used it for money off co-op funeral for my mum!) Not much else though.

I have a fund of useless information in what I call my brain which isn't entirely useless as it comes in handy for quizzing.

Learning typing and shorthand the hard, old fashioned way. Now anybody can type and shorthand is dead as a dodo!

Despite not studying or using the language beyond the most rare and minor occasions for well over 40 years, I can still write out the first stanza of a Russian poem - Cossack Lullaby by Mikhail Lermontov - in handwriting that’s better than my native version.
How’s that for uselessness?

I wish I could remember numbers! I have a job to remember my own mobile number.

Registration numbers from all of my cars and those of my D! No use whatsoever!!!

I can swear in Cantonese.
I used to use my toes to pick things up, we often went barefoot when we were young. I haven’t used that skill for ages perhaps now it could be very useful.

I can write backwards with my right (dominant) hand, but can also write fairly legibly with my left. I think I may be cross wired somehow!

I'm an excellent speller and I can always accurately hang a picture straight or cut a Mars bar exactly in half by eye. I can also wiggle my little toes without the others moving. The spelling and picture hanging/Mars bar cutting often come in handy but the toe wiggling less so except to amuse grandchildren. I can usually identify old makes of car but the modern ones all look the same.

I can touch my nose with my toes. Now that truly is a skill with no uses whatsoever.

I can remember street names when I have been somewhere.

Mind you I sometimes can’t remember what day of the week it is or why I came into a room?

I can whistle by curling my tongue behind my teeth.

I can also recognise many makes of cars by their badges. I don't remember why I started learning them though.

I’ve just learnt that Adeste Fidelis is said by some to have originated in Portugal!

I know my National Insurance number off by heart.

I remember how proud I was, when I was first given it. My dad took me to the local tax office and I was allocated my NI number. I felt so grown up ... that was 46 years ago.

I can also remember my own and my mother's Co-op divi numbers!

I can do the "fingers in the mouth" whistle - it is ear piercing so not really popular. I also love to whistle along to music when alone. I was always told it wasn't ladylike!

I did latin at school, but all I can remember is the
Christmas Carol 'O Come All You Faithful' in this long dead language!

What janeainsworth said with bells on. All skills will be useful in some aspect of life and the fact that effort has been made to gain them shows it is important in developing perseverance!

Whether that's wobbling ears for entertainment purposes, whistling for the dog/kids to come inside (my cat also comes to a whistle; I can hear her crashing through the undergrowth running to me at my signal), knowledge of Latin- even better with a smattering of ancient Greek thrown in-means a better understanding of grammar and spelling and so useful for quizzes and crosswords and any sort of sewing skill speaks for itself.

My daughters continually want me to repair things (or get stains out) for them but I have given up showing them how to do it for themselves, so I am now concentrating on passing my skills onto to my 9 year granddaughter instead who soaks up everything like a sponge.