Redditor wanted to hear about life in the recent past, so they asked:
"People born before 1990, what trivial skill do you possess that no one uses anymore?"
I had no skills in the '80s.
I was too young.
So tell me about history.
R We There Yet?
"I can re-fold a map correctly."
JungleZac
"I came here to say Reading a Map but yes, also how to refold it! I routinely amazed coworkers by remembering how to get to lunch spots without GPS after just one visit."
raulduke1971
"Yes. Yes. YES!! And how hard could it be?... if anyone bothered to notice or think or remember how it opened in the first place."
Far-Experience5137
I Remember
"Remembering phone numbers."
GreatMillionDog
"I remember the numbers for every house I lived in growing up, the phone numbers of the houses of my best friends from 7th grade and before, my grandma, and my first cell phone number. I've been married nearly five years and have no idea what my wife's phone number is."
AllModsEatSh*t
Tick Tock
"Being on time because you can't call and reschedule."
Sindertone
"I feel like you just always had an idea that plans could fall through, and were a little more excited when they didn't fall through."
"This is why there used to be more bars in restaurants, so you can wait for the rest of your party and have a drink or two, and I guess if they don't show your order there and enjoy a meal anyway or go to plan B. People also used to just meet at someone's and go from there, more so than they seem to now."
thatissomeBS
Classics
Vintage Read GIF by US National ArchivesGiphy"Using the Dewey decimal at the library."
FunStorm6487
"Still a relevant skill. If you search for a book, you're given a call number and you need to track it down."
heck-ward
Dewey who?
I have never fully understood any of it.
That's me though.
Developments
Looking Good Red Room GIF by BounceGiphy"I can develop and process photographic film and enlarge prints in a dark room."
Glade_Runner
"I took a class in high school that did this. Was fun!"
sjk8990
The Master
"Record to tape from the radio. Trying to make sure to not get the DJ/presenter talking sh*t or an ad."
Gankstajam
"I was a 'videotaping from TV' master! My anticipation of the end of commercial breaks was amazing, especially since you had to start the recording just a moment prior to having a cue that the show was coming back.
Of course, I was always screwed by those random late-night News commercials and the random extra-long pauses"
Maliluma
Hold On
"Using your shoulder to hold a telephone up to your ear while doing multiple other things at once. Now, the phones are so damned small I drop them."
Regular_Sample_5197
"Before cordless phones got really cheap, I walked around the house with a super long phone cord. My parents got sick of tripping over it, so they saved up and got me a cordless phone for Christmas."
"That phone lasted for so many years. They got it when I was a freshman in high school and it was still going strong when I graduated from college. I don’t know when or if it stopped working, but my parents switched to a phone with more features."
ZoraksGirlfriend
Glitches
"I outright destroyed Super Mario Brothers in almost no time flat very recently on Nintendo Switch after not having played it for probably 30 years. I did it totally from memory on just the second run-through. I even hit the multiple 1-up glitch on World 3-1. My kids thought I was a god (for just a few minutes)."
all4whatnot
"I grew up playing on the Super Nintendo. My son is old enough to play. The look on his face when I bomb through a level is priceless. Mama’s still got it, kid. He’s smart though. Kicks my a** in Mortal Kombat."
exWiFi69
SCORE!!
Sport Lol GIF by TikTok FranceGiphy"I can keep score in bowling."
sodangshedongerI
"took bowling as phy Ed in college. In the final exam we were given 10 lines of scoring and we had to score each line and add it up. 8 out of 10 was an A."
Qnofputrescence1213
Bowling is an art.
And keeping score is a gift... that I have never unwrapped.
Redditor hearsdemons wanted to compare notes on that little extra something that can make a possible lover that much more enticing.
So they asked:
"Women of Reddit, what skill or talent makes a man more attractive?"
Communication.
Why is that so arduous?
Be a communicator.
Calm
robert eggers patience GIFGiphy"Patience. It's so annoying to be around someone who throws a fit over every little inconvenience throughout the day."
prettygirl717
X
"Any skill honestly. But mostly intellectual curiosity to keep figuring out stuff and trying new things. If you learned X in high school and that's your party trick now but you never learned a new hobby, maybe to fix stuff, do anything new, then it wears thin fast. Anything. Do you cook, hike, know a lot about cricket? Hunt, fish? Cars, planes, boats? Music, movies? Opera? I'm always interested in somebody that can teach me something new. But it does get boring if they just rehash the same stuff and milk it for 20 years."
reveal23414
Serve it Up
"A good cook. I love cooking and am good at it, which guys typically like, but I appreciate when a guy wants to cook for me instead for a change. It's attractive when they know their way around a kitchen and have confidence in their culinary skills without my help!"
Mediocre-End2187
"I love to cook but I once dated a very high-level chef who worked for Joël Robuchon/Four Seasons. I made her a simple chicken and rice dinner one night and she destroyed me with constructive criticism. I appreciated it but dating her was so intimidating when it came to anything food related. Tiny little Vietnamese bad@ss. I miss her."
superboringfellow
Easy to be around...
"Kindness. Genuine kindness."
Tulikettuja
"This. My partner was a kind coworker, he brought us all thoughtful little gifts one year and then after we started hooking up, he was very sweet to my elderly cat and now that we live together, he is an excellent stepfather to my two spoiled little dogs."
"We cry together when things are sad. His desire to be kind has enabled us to have difficult conversations and learn to not be on the defense when we disagree. He makes me coffee on weekends when we wake up at the same time. Kindness is the most important quality."
SuperRadPsammead
How witty...
Comedy Laughing GIF by GEICOGiphy"A sense of humor, but it must be paired with a talent for reading the room."
doublestitch
"Humor + reading the room have to go together. 'Saying what everybody is thinking' is only funny in the appropriate moment."
StandardFront7922
Comedy and a good laugh go a long way.
Hearing
tell me more will smith GIFGiphy"Listening."
misty614
"Not only listening, but follow through afterward!"
casandrine
Relax Yo...
"Staying calm. Men which stay calm almost 24/7 have such an attractive skill. I can‘t really discribe why but it is really attractive to me."
Annikuh
"I was on a date and got a flat tire from a pot hole in a parking lot. I simply changed it and went on with the date. After, she turn me down for another date because she didn't like that I was so calm about the blown tire. Pretty sure I dodged a bullet with that one."
DoctFaustus
Act like it...
"This isn’t a skill or talent, it’s a trait. Being generally nice to those around you and not hurting those around you just to 'be a man.' If acting manly means abuse, I don’t want to marry them."
Buzzing_Bee13
"I will say, I don’t think I’m that nice. But in my defense I think I’m very nice to nice people. Its so rare to find a genuinely nice person. It brings so much energy being around a nice person. I will defend them with ferocity if people ever make fun of them or give them a hard time. Gotta preserve their niceness as long as possible."
mkostinas
Awareness
"The ability to genuinely apologize. Not a mumbled '…sorry' or a defensive 'I’m sorry jeez what do you want?' but a true heartfelt apology that lets me know you understand what happened, are taking my feelings seriously, and will actually follow through with doing better next time. Too often 'sorry' sounds more like 'What do I have to say to get this conversation to end.'"
casandrine
Whatever
Found Footage Video GIF by Eternal FamilyGiphy"Anything really. I just love watching people do something they love and are passionate about. It is attractive when a man has a passion and talks about it."
SleepyDreamer16
Can you imagine one person encompassing of all these? Oh my...
What skills would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
I can tell...
driving fast and furious GIFGiphy"Identifying cars’ make/model by their headlights at night."
sharksnrec
"Pre 2020s Mustangs look like big spiders with all their lights. I recognize a handful of them, but not all. Tail lights at also fun."
IcePhoenix18
Bizarre
"I can identify faces very easily even with age. People I've seen once in a film 40 years ago I'll see again in something current and say 'Oh that's the guy who played the 3rd terrorist in that film from 1980.' It's bizarre."
thewoodbeyond
"This has a name and might be a very good job for you if you're interested https://www.vice.com/en/article/ep487p/how-police-are-using-super-recognizers-like-me-to-track-criminals"
starfire2258
Waves
"I can do a wave with my eyebrows."
Kith-Kath
"Me too, and I can move them separately of each other and separately of my ears, which I can also wiggle with."
cainhurstcat
"I used to be able to do that... was about the only interesting thing about me, until I wrecked my moped and tore a muscle or nerve or something and it took 6 months for any movement, but now it's just enough to passably get emotion across."
PrinceDusk
World's Best
"Competitive Minesweeper. Was 15th in the world at one point."
SaltyPretzel97
"Back in college I had a friend who played minesweeper to relax. Just clicking at a screen. She’d been doing it for a decade. The speed at which she was playing was genuinely mind blowing. Like constant clicking at about 3-5 clicks per second. And all on purpose, winning a ton of games."
PM-ME-UNICORN-BUTTS
Characters
Fox Tv Fire GIF by Bob's BurgersGiphy"I do a really good impression of Teddy from Bob's Burgers."
boyvsfood2
"I can do Kermit, Bobby of Bobby’s World, and Gollum. Possibly others, I dunno."
vercertorix
Well that is all entertaining. Profitable? Who knows...
awkward jim carrey GIFQUAAAAAACK!
"I can play a blade of grass."
CaptianRed
"That reminds me when I was very young. I went camping and met a dude that said he could make a duck call from just 1 acorn. So i brought him one and he squeezed it and told me to get close. He took a deep breath and screamed, 'QUAAAAAACK!' Safe to say i never talk to random strangers when im out in the wilderness."
Elixr-z
Scales
"I’ve worked in a deli most of my life. I can weigh things in grams eerily accurately with just my hands. Some customers get pretty kind blown."
Origin_Of_Ebot
"I have a, uh, similar skill, because I've done so many autopsies that I can almost always guess the weight of any human organ within about ten grams. Don't really get to perform for many people but I get a hell of a lot of satisfaction when the heart weighs EXACTLY what I knew it would."
totally0real0account
WTF?!?!
"I can send and receive morse code at 65+ words per minute. Completely pointless skill."
008mantis
"Pointless?!?! That is f**king amazing my friend!!"
davvaz62
"That’s amazing, I’ve never learned morse code nor have I spent the time to get so good at it."
TheGalacticPenguin
Woof...
dog show GIF by Westminster Kennel ClubGiphy"Not me but my mum can name literally any dog breed you show her."
majesticles0
Random
"I know a lot of random things about animals. Both extinct and living."
TigBitties42069
"Tapirs have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each rear foot. But every tapir I've seen makes only two-toed rear footprints because the third toe grows too far up their hamstring to touch the ground."
onmyknees4anyone
Limbs
"I can lick elbows."
shadyfortheshade
"God i remember a kid in band would lick other peoples elbows. He would do it to one person specifically and the guy would never know unless we told him."
ChubbsthePenguin
"Same. No one believes me until I show them lol."
alwayssummer90
Threshold
"Ability to sneeze with 118 decibels measured. 120 is already threshold of pain as an interesting fact."
KerbalEnginner
"I have a loud sneeze too but not sure if it's this loud! My Dad's was even louder and it runs in the family. Does your loud sneeze run in the fam too?"
Wolkenflieger
"Sure does, I adopted my late grandfather's technique and my sneeze can be heard all over the village where I live.
If you want to measure it get a sound meter app on the phone."
KerbalEnginner
Where?
"I can always find the most in-the-way place near anyone who is busy."
themattboard
"I've always had this curse. When I was like 10 we rented a dune buggy. It was one with a pull start motor and it would occasionally die. About 30 minutes in it died so my dad and I got out to start it."
"Not paying attention I stood behind my dads right side as he yanked hard to start it. His elbow smacked me square in the head (I was luckily wearing a helmet) and sent me flying. I got up and moved to the other side of my dad not knowing he had switched arms. Again, he yanked as hard as he could and his elbow launched me back again. I just stayed on the ground until it was started after that."
WantedDadorAlive
Whipped
"I'm extraordinarily good at towel whipping. Made someone bleed once."
Thomasgraham76
"This is something that everyone in my family has advanced skill in. We love getting in playful towel wars. I have never found a girlfriend who wanted to do this with me despite always wishing I would. My mom and uncle will go at it until they are both bleeding and look like they were in a paintball fight."
PaticusGnome
Vibrations
Scared Dog GIFGiphy"I can vibrate my eyes back and forth."
probono_deeeeeeeeeee
"Me too. It looks like the cheap earthquake effect from TV shows from my point of view, when I do it."
Meranio
Twirl Special
"Twirling, flipping, and spinning writing utensils. Like, really intricate s**t, effortlessly. A skill built up with hours and hours of fidgeting. Seems to impress a lot of people, apparently. Gets plenty of compliments."
DocFishFight
"Pretty much anytime I've held a pencil or pen, I've tried to twirl it like Boris in Goldeneye, ever since the movie came out. I still can't do it, so respect to you."
MikeMcAwesome91
Well these skills may not be a career, but what great party conversation starters.