Party Tricks
Moderator: Jon O'Neill
- Derek Hazell
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Party Tricks
We know that a lot of people here are great at anagrams and arithmetic, but what about other talents? Those special skills you don't really talk about, or which you use to impress somebody else? Things we like to call "party tricks".
Mine are:
1) I can miaow so realistically that when I do it in front of a cat, they either look around for another cat, miaow back, or start following me
2) I can turn my tongue upside down without touching it
3) I can sing in a high voice like a woman or a deep voice like a man (not very tunefully, but it's still a talent)
Mine are:
1) I can miaow so realistically that when I do it in front of a cat, they either look around for another cat, miaow back, or start following me
2) I can turn my tongue upside down without touching it
3) I can sing in a high voice like a woman or a deep voice like a man (not very tunefully, but it's still a talent)
Living life in a gyratory circus kind of way.
- Michael Wallace
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Re: Party Tricks
I've often thought about party tricks, and I've never been able to think of one that I have - is anyone else as 'talent'less as me?
- Jon O'Neill
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Re: Party Tricks
If you give me nine random letters, I can make the longest word possible from them in 30 seconds over 50% of the time!
- Derek Hazell
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Re: Party Tricks
There should probably be a word in the dictionary for the art of finding the longest word from a random selection of letters, as I presume the point you're making is that I didn't cover that when I said "anagrams". It's rather cumbersome to have to describe it each time isn't it, when there could just be one word.Jon O'Neill wrote:If you give me nine random letters, I can make the longest word possible from them in 30 seconds over 50% of the time!
I'm sure the core skills of Countdown adapt pretty well as party tricks too though.
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- Michael Wallace
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Re: Party Tricks
I'm struggling to think of an example of how they could. Either that or I don't go to the right parties.Derek Hazell wrote:I'm sure the core skills of Countdown adapt pretty well as party tricks too though.
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Re: Party Tricks
I was just trying to be diplomatic, as Jono named that as his trick. But, I can see how a group of people in a bar, with some calling out random letters, while others race to find something out of them, all whilst drinking, shouting and cheering could work as an entertaining skill. Perhaps.Michael Wallace wrote:I'm struggling to think of an example of how they could. Either that or I don't go to the right parties.
Also Michael, I reckon you have special skills too, but you're just being modest.
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Re: Party Tricks
I'm really good at balancing things on top of each other.
- Ben Hunter
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Re: Party Tricks
I can fall over forward without bending my knees. The more wasted everyone is, the bigger the reaction I get, but that's the same for just about everything really.
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Re: Party Tricks
I do farmyard impressions...
...but I do the smells, not the sounds!
...but I do the smells, not the sounds!
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Re: Party Tricks
I can do a really realistic impression of the sound of rubbing a dirty mark off a pane of glass
- Michael Wallace
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Re: Party Tricks
Well I'm pretty sure I have 'skills' too, it's just that doing some maths or playing Halo aren't really things you can wow people with at parties. Not one's stereotypical parties, at any rate.Derek Hazell wrote:Also Michael, I reckon you have special skills too, but you're just being modest.
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Re: Party Tricks
Tell us a joke!Michael Wallace wrote: Well I'm pretty sure I have 'skills' too, it's just that doing some maths or playing Halo aren't really things you can wow people with at parties.
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Re: Party Tricks
Why was the stereo uncomfortable about playing music? Because it was all a bit CD.Charlie Reams wrote:Tell us a joke!Michael Wallace wrote: Well I'm pretty sure I have 'skills' too, it's just that doing some maths or playing Halo aren't really things you can wow people with at parties.
Last edited by Michael Wallace on Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Party Tricks
Pick a two-digit number, cube it, give me the answer. I'll tell you your original two-digit number, i.e. cube-root your answer, in under 5 seconds. I also know the dance routine to 'Work It Out' from High School Musical 2.
Neither fails as a clunge-magnet.
Neither fails as a clunge-magnet.
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Re: Party Tricks
You're going to have to explain this one...Michael Wallace wrote:Why was the stereo uncomfortable about playing music? Because it was all a bit CD.Charlie Reams wrote:Tell us a joke!Michael Wallace wrote: Well I'm pretty sure I have 'skills' too, it's just that doing some maths or playing Halo aren't really things you can wow people with at parties.
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- Michael Wallace
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Re: Party Tricks
Huh, ok. Well stereo gives you a *big* sound. The C in CD stands for compact, and you wouldn't want to fit a big family in a compact car (as in brake *disc*), in fact, you might say that if you did they would feel uncomfortable.Ian Volante wrote:You're going to have to explain this one...
Re: Party Tricks
But that means someone at the party has to cube the number in their head first. Unless you carry a calculator around with you to give to people in order to speed up the trick process.Jeffrey Burgin wrote:Pick a two-digit number, cube it, give me the answer. I'll tell you your original two-digit number, i.e. cube-root your answer, in under 5 seconds.
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Re: Party Tricks
I can balance coins on my elbow and catch them in my hand. My record (without dropping a single coin) is 30. To put it into context, I think the WR is in hundreds!
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Re: Party Tricks
I can touch the back of my left hand with my left index finger. Either elicits a reaction of "I never want to see that again," or "Awesome!".
Regrettably, almost invariably the former.
Regrettably, almost invariably the former.
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- Charlie Reams
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Re: Party Tricks
Pix plz!James Hall wrote:I can touch the back of my left hand with my left index finger. Either elicits a reaction of "I never want to see that again," or "Awesome!".
Regrettably, almost invariably the former.
- Michael Wallace
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Re: Party Tricks
Awesome. I used to be pretty double-jointed like that, although now the best I can do is touch my left thumb to my wrist.James Hall wrote:I can touch the back of my left hand with my left index finger. Either elicits a reaction of "I never want to see that again," or "Awesome!".
Regrettably, almost invariably the former.
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Re: Party Tricks
If you mean your right wrist, I can do that too.Michael Wallace wrote:Awesome. I used to be pretty double-jointed like that, although now the best I can do is touch my left thumb to my wrist.James Hall wrote:I can touch the back of my left hand with my left index finger.
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Re: Party Tricks
Charlie Reams wrote:Pix plz!James Hall wrote:I can touch the back of my left hand with my left index finger. Either elicits a reaction of "I never want to see that again," or "Awesome!".
Regrettably, almost invariably the former.
![Image](http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7355/bentfingers.jpg)
After a couple of attempts at clicking the mouse button with my elbow to get my webcam to take a still, I'm happy to oblige.
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Re: Party Tricks
Awesome. Have you managed to find any uses for that ability?
- James Hall
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Re: Party Tricks
It did mean that I never lost a game of 'Mercy' at primary school, but that's about it.
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Re: Party Tricks
I thought you were going to say flicking Neil Zussman when he beats you at Countdown!James Hall wrote:It did mean that I never lost a game of 'Mercy' at primary school, but that's about it.
Living life in a gyratory circus kind of way.
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Re: Party Tricks
Excellent! I dunno why I'm so impressed by stuff like this.James Hall wrote:
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Re: Party Tricks
The best I can manage here body horro wise is being able to dislocate my right shoulder and pop it behind my head, and I can flex my left pinkie independently of any of the other fingers on that hand. I'm also pretty good at co-ordination type tricks such as patting your head and rubbing your stomach simultaneously.
Oh, and I used to be able to snap my fingers using any finger, not just the middle ones, but I've kinda lost that ability over the years.
Oh, and I used to be able to snap my fingers using any finger, not just the middle ones, but I've kinda lost that ability over the years.
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Re: Party Tricks
I can juggle 5 balls and solve a Rubik's cube in under 25 seconds. Doing either always elicits a response at parties.
Also, when I first told my friends about going on Countdown (while in Wetherspoon's) some of them starting giving me anagrams to solve. One of them keyed 'RTBOHIKSKAAIDEAPI' or something into his phone and showed me the screen and I solved it instantly (he was impressed as he didn't expect me to do it). They gave me a fair few anagrams and I got most of them (learnt a few esoteric words as well).
I was pretty happy to have turned anagramming into a party trick!
Also, when I first told my friends about going on Countdown (while in Wetherspoon's) some of them starting giving me anagrams to solve. One of them keyed 'RTBOHIKSKAAIDEAPI' or something into his phone and showed me the screen and I solved it instantly (he was impressed as he didn't expect me to do it). They gave me a fair few anagrams and I got most of them (learnt a few esoteric words as well).
I was pretty happy to have turned anagramming into a party trick!
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Re: Party Tricks
People usually have phones with calculators on them.JackHurst wrote:But that means someone at the party has to cube the number in their head first. Unless you carry a calculator around with you to give to people in order to speed up the trick process.
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Re: Party Tricks
Wow, they've moved on since I last bought a mobile.Jeffrey Burgin wrote:People usually have phones with calculators on them.JackHurst wrote:But that means someone at the party has to cube the number in their head first. Unless you carry a calculator around with you to give to people in order to speed up the trick process.
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