Skills I have learned...useful and not-so!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

JackieO wrote: »

I can cook
knit
drive
swim
mend things (plugs etc )
Budget
forage
read a map
ride a horse (well enough not to fall off at least )
Volunteer (which I do far too much according to my children )
natter (again ditto above )
ride a bike
roller skate (although I don't think I would like to now at my age )
Ice skate (again ditto above )
sew a button on



I can't and not for the want of trying

crochet
use a sewing machine
draw a straight line or paint a picture
play an instrument
surf,(not many breakers around the Medway
speak a foreign language
algebra is a foreign language to me as well :)along with complicated maths
Garden anymore (aged joints and bending in the middle )

But I can live with what I can do, and survive with what I can't (I have a great chap who does my gardening for me)

JackieO xx

You do algebra without realising it every time you bake cakes, JackieO


4oz sugar & 4oz butter creamed together, 4oz flour and two eggs in an 8 inch tin could be written as;

(4s + 4b) + 4f + 2e = t

Translation: (4oz sugar + 4oz butter) + 4oz flour+ 2 eggs = tin

When you have two tins to fill, you're performing algebra when you work out that you need 8oz of the ingredients and 4 eggs.

(8s + 8b) + 8f + 4e = 2t

Translation: (8oz sugar + 8oz butter) + 8oz flour+ 4 eggs = 2 tins


If I said you needed to bake 3 All in One/Madeira(ish) cakes, rather than Victoria sponges, you could work out the quantities easily enough from the algebraic formula for one cake;

t = 4s + 4b + 6f + 2e

1 cake is made with 4oz sugar, 4oz butter, 6oz flour and 2 eggs

3t = 12s + 12b + 18f + 6e

3 cakes are made with 12oz sugar, 12oz butter, 18oz flour, half a dozen eggs.

(and because you don't have to cream the butter and sugar together first before adding the other ingredients, you just put them all in together, the sugar and butter parts aren't put in brackets like they were with the Victoria Sponge recipe).


In the same way, each time you check how many eggs and how much flour you have before deciding what cake or how many you can make without going to the shops, you're unconsciously performing algebraic calculations -

If you look in the fridge and cupboard and see you've got 4 eggs and half a pound of flour, you know you've got enough eggs to bake either two Victoria sponges or 2 Madeiras - but because of your understanding of algebra (even though you didn't realise it), you know you have to make Victoria sponges because they would need 8oz of flour, whereas 2 Madeiras would need 12oz - or you have to go to the shops




In a similar way, when people working in building say they don't understand Pythagoras or algebra, but 'know' if you make a triangle with sides measuring 3', 4' and the diagonal of 5', you are guaranteed a square corner (and can divide the measurements down if one side is only 2 foot long), they're doing it without realising.

Or somebody works out that to get net curtains that look good, they need to measure the width of the window and multiply that by 1 and a half, 2 or 3 to get the required gather, they're using algebra (the formula could be written g = 1.5w, g = 2w or g = 3w; g is the desired gather, w is the width).




When it comes to drawing a straight line, however, well - that's what rulers were invented for.

jackyann

PollyWollyDoodle: I haven't met anyone for years who could speak Esperanto. A few of my dad's old cronies could. I have often wondered why it didn't catch on. Do you speak with anyone else?
My dad said it was considered a tool of anarchists & revolutionaries; after WW2 there was an emphasis on learning other languages, especially enjoying literature, sings etc, then English became widely spoken across the world.
All of my children learned a foreign language to at least GCSE, and most of them to A-level or equivalent. But now, although 3 of them work regularly abroad, they rarely use the language they learned. It isn't useful, for example, to speak German well, if the other people round the table (Korean & Norwegian recently) don't. But everyone has English as a 2nd or 3rd language.

Prinzessilein

Some really interesting skill-sets we have here!

I will raise my hand for speaking a little Esperanto...learned it many years ago...but have never had anyone to talk to!....And I speak a good smattering of languages as it is, so never really needed the Esperanto!

As for those who long to whistle - maybe you just need the right incentive.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q8kt1Sem-4

VJsmum

I can't whistle either

I can

Knit,
Sew
Cook
Clean
Drive
Ride a bike
Swim
Walk for miles
Sit in the lotus position
Touch type
Write poetry
Wire a plug

I can't
Draw, paint etc
Sing - properly sing rather than carry a tune
Play any game that requires hand-eye coordination (tennis, badminton, table tennis, rounders etc)
Speak a foreign language - apart from a smattering of German
Touch my toes
Play an instrument

I have no interest in being able to
Surf
Ski

LameWolf

Prinzessilein wrote: »

Dolly-Bobbin Wool 'Crochet' - making our own 'dolly' for the work was the best bit! (We learned to make long strings of wool...supposedly to make mats or bags, but I never saw anyone do anything with their woollen strings!)..

A jacket I knitted about 20 years ago (and still wear) called for precisely those strings to be added as ties - it's method of fastening.

What I can do
Look after pretty much any dog you care to present me with
Knit
Cross stitch
Embroidery
Cook something at least edible
Household finances
Cryptic crosswords
Sudoku
See in poor light (I have very good night vision)
Most minor household DIY tasks
Drive (but only if I absolutely HAVE to)
Do a floor plan of a building, to scale
Read music
Read and write using Elder Futhark Runes (where I used to work we had randomly generated computer passwords which changed every 30 days, and everyone wrote them down as we hadn't a hope in hell of memorising them; I used to write mine in Runes so they were at least a bit more secure than the others! )

What I used to be able to do but no longer can (mainly due to health issues)
Ride a horse
Ride a bike
Dance
Sing
Walk more than the width of a standard carport
Gardening
Play a keyboard instrument
Fence (as with a foil or an epee - nothing to do with posts and panels)
Write legibly (my writing these days looks like an inebriated spider fell in the ink!)

What I cannot do but wish I could
Swim (I cannot cope wih the chlorine smell of swimming pools due to an extremely traumatic event that occurred at a swimming pool when I was aged 6):(
Crochet
Sew more than replacing detached buttons and repairing torn seams
Draw freehand
Paint (other than painting the bedroom walls)
Car maintenance
Creative writing
Speak a language other than English
Socialise with other people without panicking
Touch-type
Say "no" to people (I sometimes think I must have "MUG" tattoed on my forehead) and generally stand up for myself
Dress stylishly (I have zero sense of style, and would frankly look a mess in - for instance - Prada)
Watch rubbish tv without getting cross (it would make home life a lot easier if I could do this)

What I cannot do and have zero interest in learning
Childcare
Cook meat or fish

The list obviously isn't exhaustive, but it's what my poor beleaguered brain came up with to be going on with.

[Deleted User]

I want to carry on learning new skills

to weave on my inkle loom
to carry on with tai chi
to use a bow and arrow
to become skilled in pyrography
to learn how to use a band saw
to learn how to use a lathe

PollyWollyDoodle

There are some really interesting things coming out of this thread! Re the Esperanto - I haven't actually spoken it for years but I'm sure it would come back in no time. It was very popular in Eastern bloc Communist countries in the 1960s and 1970s as it offered opportunities to travel overseas to international conferences sometimes.

I didn't list the things I'd still like to learn - archery is one, Kittie! And I'd love to play the piano, or any musical instrument really. I'd like to learn Italian, and to make my own dressmaking patterns. And to bake bread. And make macarons, which never work for me although I can make meringues, souffl!s, eclairs and lots of other difficult things! I don't think you ever stop learning.s