10 Things That Are (Almost) Impossible To Do With Your Body

There are things that you think you should be able to do with your body. But if you’re like 99.9999% of people in the world, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t quite manage to do it.

Here is a list of things that are impossible to do with your body, and the few mutants who can do ‘em:

10. Raise One Eyebrow

I can raise both of my eyebrows in bewilderment on how some people can raise just one. In fact, I know only one person in my life who can do this: my mother-in-law, who said that her ability just came to her during the pain of childbirth - and that this superpower was very useful in raising kids. Well, her and of course Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock: "Fascinating, Captain"), Sean Connery, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Stephen Colbert.

Some people call this the eyebrow cock, and it is known as the universal sign of O RLY … I mean, skepticism. The ability to raising eyebrows may be an evolutionary trait: baboons, mandrills and cebus monkeys raise their eyebrows as a threat gesture. (Source: David Givens / Center for Nonverbal Studies).

For all of you who want to do this (and yes, geeks who want to imitate Mr. Spock: I’m talkin’ to you), it turns out that you can learn to raise one eyebrow. Here’s the trick, according to wikiHow:

1. Start by keeping one eyebrow down with one hand and holding one up with the other. Keep practicing this in the mirror so you can
detect the correct muscle movement to obtain one eyebrow up.
2. Once you are familiar with this and can do it quite well, try it with out using your hands.
3. Practice this in the mirror intil you get it just right
4. Scare and thrill people with your new talent!

Didn’t work for you? Try the methods in this Ask MetaFilter thread or this Yahoo! Answer.

9. Lick Your Elbow

Photo: Gussy (Luke) [Flickr]

I once read a trivia that said it’s impossible to lick your own elbow. And that 75% of the people told this immediately tried to lick their elbows.

Well! It’s obviously not so impossible for some people. Supposedly, Guinness World Records get about 5 claims a day from people who think that they are special just because they can lick their elbows (Source).

8. Gleeking

Patrick Ellison gleeking. Photo by Josh Devine [Wikipedia]

Okay, it is kind of gross but it’s fascinating. Gleeking (or gleeting / glicking) is like spitting - but not quite: the term means projecting saliva from the submandibular gland upon compression by the tongue.

Interestingly, the word gleek appears in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where a character named Bottom says "Nay, I can gleek upon occasion." (The Bard meant it as "joke," though, not spit like a camel)

7. Twitch Your Nose

Y’know, twitch your nose like the witch Samantha Stephens of Bewitched.

Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress that played Samantha, actually got sick and tired of being asked to twitch her nose by her fans that she refused to do it after the series was over.

They should bring back Bewitched. I missed that show.

6. Wiggle Your Ear

Jeff Goldblum wiggling his ears [YouTube]

Your cat can do it. And so can the hippo and Jeff Goldblum. But only few other people in the world can wiggle their ears. It turned out that in 2006, scientists determined exactly why most people couldn’t wiggle their own ears:

"The mechanism behind ear movements is sophisticated," says Bastiaan ter Meulen, who led the ear wiggling study, accepted for publication in the journal Clinical Neurophysiology.

Unlike other facial muscles, ear muscles have their own accessory nucleus, a control area for muscle function, in the brainstem, says ter Meulen, a researcher at Erasmus MC, a university medical centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

"Compared to animals, especially bats and cats, this nucleus is rather small in humans," he says. (Source)

But fear not, non-ear wiggling people! You can train yourself to do it. WikiHow explains:

Isolate your ear-wiggling muscles. You may be able to wiggle your ears, but it won’t be that impressive if you have to raise your eyebrows or look awfully surprised every time. You may not be able to move your ears without moving your scalp, but you should be able to learn to move them without moving your eyebrows. Practice wiggling your ears without moving any other parts of your face.

5. Touch Your Nose or Chin With Your Tongue

This is much better than a photo of Gene Simmons sticking his tongue out!
Photo: floyka [Flickr]

I betcha Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS could do both easily, but most people can’t touch the tip of their nose or their chin with their tongue. Rumor was Gene had a cow’s tongue grafted onto his own. But Snopes, ever the party pooper, set the record straight:

But, as Simmons wrote in his autobiography, his unusual tongue was indeed the work of Mother Nature alone, a feature whose distinctiveness (and value) he first realized in his early teens:

I was oblivious, for the first thirteen years of my life, that I was endowed with a large oral appendage, my superlong tongue. It really was longer than everyone else’s, and I was soon to find out that having a long tongue came in handy with the girls.

4. Strange Tongue Tricks

While we’re still on the subject of tongues, there are a few tricks that most people can’t do (just don’t get a tongue cramp trying to do all these, mmkay?):

Tongue tricks by YouTube user tinasandwich [YouTube Link]

Just go ahead and try to to the last one, the smiley face, like YouTube user a51a did [YouTube Link, shaky video but still!]

3. Sneeze with Your Eyes Open

Nope, you can’t sneeze with your eyes open (well, without forcing ‘em open with your hands, anyhow). Why? Because when you sneeze, the "sneeze center" in the brain "sends coordinated motor impulses along nerves controlling muscles of the abdomen, chest, diaphragm, neck, face, eyelids and various sphincters, as well as the mucus glands and blood vessels of the nose. All this happens automatically." (Source) You can’t help it.

Now, if you did force open your eyes, would your eyeballs pop out when you sneeze? Adam Savage of The Mythbuster risked his eyes doing the experiment:

The Mythbuster: Will Your Eyes Fall Out From Sneezing? episode [YouTube]

2. Tickle Yourself

We all have a ticklish spot or two, which are never a secret from the ones we love. Gentle tickling is fun - so one can be tempted to "auto-tickle" to amuse oneself. But alas, you can’t tickle yourself, and scientists actually know why.

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London explains:

The answer lies at the back of the brain in an area called the cerebellum, which is involved in monitoring movements. Our studies at University College London have shown that the cerebellum can predict sensations when your own movement causes them but not when someone else does. When you try to tickle yourself, the cerebellum predicts the sensation and this prediction is used to cancel the response of other brain areas to the tickle. (Source)

1. Toot Your Own Horn

I’m going to let Will Ferrell in the famous SNL yoga skit explain this one ("Look, I’ve done yoga everyday for three years … now I’ve finally reached my goal"). Or if you prefer something more literary: There once was a man from Nantucket …

All right, all right, this one’s only for the guys: Why do dogs lick their balls? Because they can. And apparently, so can 2 to 3 out of 1,000 men in the world, according to sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. (Source)

As stand-up comedian Bill Hicks once famously quipped:

"A woman one night yelled out, ‘Yeah, you ever try it?’ I said, yeah. Almost broke my back. It’s that one vertebrae, I swear to God, it’s that close. I think that vertebrae is going to be the thing to go in our next evolutionary step. Just a theory and a fervent prayer. Yeah, now all the guys are going, ‘Honey, I have no idea what he’s talking about. I think he’s a devil-child.’ That may be true, but guys, yoooo u know what I’m talking about. I can speak for every guy in this room here tonight, guys, if you could blow yourselves, ladies, you’d be in this room alone right now. Watching an empty stage." (Source)

Because Neatorama is a nice blog, I’m just going to let you read all about autofellatio over on Wikipedia (warning: NSFW, obviously).

Bonus: The Paralyzed Finger Trick

Okay, give this one a try: bend your middle finger like the picture on the left shows and put your hand on the table. Then lift your thumb, index finger, and pinkie. No problem, right? Now try the ring finger.

Stepanie Weaver of Science Made Simple explains why you can’t:

The tendons in your fingers are independent from one another apart from the ones in your middle and ring finger. These tendons are connected, so that when your middle finger is folded down you cannot move your ring finger. It feels like your ring finger is stuck!

Bonus: Draw The Number Six While Making Clockwise Circles With Your Leg

Think you can multitask? Try this: while sitting on a chair, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Then, while doing that, draw the number 6 with your right hand. You can’t help it: your foot will change direction.

Similarly: move your right leg in anti-clockwise circles and simultaneously draw the number 8 with your right hand.

Another tricky thing to do: simultaneously rotate the index fingers of both hands clockwise. Do it slowly at first, but then pick up speed. Try to go faster and faster, and pretty soon your two fingers will be going in opposite directions!

Bonus: Put Your Fist in Your Mouth

Well, the steps are easy enough: 1. Make a fist, and 2. Insert into mouth - but most people can’t do it, except the few (all women it seems) who have a) small fists and b) big mouths!

For example:

[YouTube clip]

More?

If you’ve got more things that seemingly easy to do but are actually
impossible, I’d love to hear them - please add them to the comment section.

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March 12, 2008 at 6:16 am by Alex
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205 comments to "10 Things That Are (Almost) Impossible To Do With Your Body"

MoonCake
March 12th, 2008 at 6:45 am
i can make a clover with my tongue, raise one eye-brow, wiggle my ears, and rotate my right hand clockwise while my left hand goes counter-clockwise. i discovered the ear wiggling when i identified the muscles that moved when i smiled. one i identified them, i was able to isolate them without smiling. and my left ear wiggles a little easier than my right one, but i’m still able to wiggle both at the same time and opposite of each other.
MrPumpernickel
March 12th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Huh? I can lift my ring finger no problem when doing the above described test.

Also, I’ve been able to raise one eyebrow for as long as I can remember. It’s a big part of my facial language.
rkolter
March 12th, 2008 at 7:11 am
I can move either eyebrow independant of the other.

Try this one:

Move your eyes in opposite directions - one to the left, the other to the right. I can do it if I warm up my eyes a bit. I’ve got a video of me doing it in avatar form somewhere. Not such a great way to meet women, but a fun bar trick.

And one for the ladies:

Stand with your back against a wall, and heels touching the wall (basically at attention, back on the wall). Women can touch their toes without bending their knees in this position. Men can not.
mikelietz
March 12th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I can sneeze with my eyes open. I guess I need to take a video of it sometime, since it’s so impossible.
Fran
March 12th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Like MrPumpernickel, I too have always been able to raise one eyebrow and although I didn’t know it until you posted it I can also raise my ring finger when holding down the middle one.
Tinkergirl
March 12th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Ah yes, but can you talk with two tones at once? I saw a boy brought out onto the Terry Wogan show because he could do it, but I’d been doing it for ages. Your voice is actually fluctuating between two ‘notes’ very quickly indeed and you seem to use double the air than you’d normally do, but it seems to freak people out If I’m really practicing, I can sing in harmony with myself (though my range is obviously much narrower).
Dave
March 12th, 2008 at 8:07 am
When my daughter was two or three, my wife and I were having a laugh about the tongue to nose trick (her sister can do it). I asked my daughter if she could stick out her tongue and touch her nose; she stuck out her tongue and touched her nose with her finger, then looked at us like we were crazy when we cracked up laughing.

One question I have about the paralyzed finger trick; if you can’t lift your ring finger when your middle finger is pulled back because the tendons are connected, why can you lift the middle finger when the ring finger is pulled back? Seems to me that if they are connected, you should be able to reverse it. Anyone?
Ally
March 12th, 2008 at 8:12 am
For some reason I occasionally “gleek” when I yawn. My mouth opens wide and I see a squirt of saliva go out.
Rohin
March 12th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Gleeking! Man I never knew it had a name. I occasionally dowse people with a clear jet of spit that seems to emanate from under my tongue and now I know I’m not alone. Maybe I can join a gleekers group and destroy something beautiful by spitting on it. I can do eyebrow tricks like other commenters - can’t be that rare.

My weird trick is that I can make a vein on my hand wriggle like a snake. Guaranteed gross out. Then I GLEEK on you.
Emperor
March 12th, 2008 at 8:32 am
I can:

* Raise both eyebrows independently and a popular pub trick was making them dance
* Touch my nose with my tongue

I also used to be adhesive/magnetic (another pub trick - stopped when I quite the booze, you do the math) and can do a simple version of the regurgitating trick that Stevie Starr has developed into a mighty fine stage act.
Philippa
March 12th, 2008 at 8:44 am
You can actually tickle yourself. Granted, it isn’t on the outside of your body, but you just try gently stroking your tongue along the back of your pallette. For me thats worse than the bottom of my feet!
Moodindigo
March 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I can wiggle my ears and raise either eyebrow. My girlfriend can touch the tip of her tongue to both her nose and chin (score!). Not sure about the tongue “tricks” though. I shall show her the video tonight though.
a_mama
March 12th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I clearly remember the day in 6th grade when my eyebrow raised on it’s own. I don’t remember what was said to cause this (obviously it must have been really dumb), but my eyebrow started twitching and pulling and next thing I knew I had a new facial expression! I can also wiggle my ears and twitch my nose. Oh and most of that tongue stuff, now I’m going to try more–my husband really enjoys the flipping and rolling I can do (for obvious reasons). I never knew I was so talented!
amy
March 12th, 2008 at 9:11 am
i can do the nose twitch. thats about it though
neko
March 12th, 2008 at 9:13 am
i can move my ears. not exactly wiggle, but hold them in a small set of positions. like sometimes i notice i’ve moved them back to try to adjust my slipping glasses. and moving only one eyebrow and making a clover with my tongue is easy.

here’s a weird thing i can do that grossed people out in summer camp when i was little: i can throw the middle joints on my fingers backwards, which locks them and lets me move my fingertips independently. i guess it’s a type of double-jointedness
Aric
March 12th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I can also sneeze with my eyes open. I have to work at it, make a strange facial expression, and look down a bit, but I can do it.

It’s a moderately useful skill to have when driving.
just a guy
March 12th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I’d like to see a video of the two-tone voice thing.

I can:
* raise one eyebrow
* do the ‘6′ drawing
* Do some of the tounge tricks
* ‘Toot your own horn’ (and no, you get no video proof!)
Well, I should say I ‘used to’ be able to do that one, when I was younger. I haven’t tried in years. Its too ‘painful’ a stretch on the back. Plus, I have someone else to do it for me now.
mnbljgh
March 12th, 2008 at 10:13 am
raise both eyebrows
then wink one eye

now you know what it feels like you can probably raise one eye brow while holding the other down without closing that eye
Bob the Frog
March 12th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Ok, the 6 drawing is really no problem at alll.

Otherwise, very nice post, thank you.

The smilie tongue is unbelieveable!
Steve
March 12th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Wow I can do a lot of those things. All except the tongue trips. But I’m neither Gene Simmons nor a hot asian girl. Oh, and can’t do Will Ferrell’s yoga pose (Wonder what the yoga name is? “Happy Buddha”?). Er, I mean, I have no idea if I can do that…

Lifting the ring finger was possible, though it only lifts itself a bit.

And what would middle school bus rides have been without gleeking? I could hit someone halfway down the bus. I should see if there is a gleeking championship somewhere in the world.
Rob
March 12th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I can blow bubbles with my spit. i dont mean gurgley bubbles but actual bubbles that release and float around in the air (usually on for a second or 2). i know it’s a bit gross but it’s also a bit fantastic
Cuprohastes
March 12th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Dear Neatorama:
I can wiggle my ears
Raise either eyebrow independantly
Curl my tongue
And that “paralysed finger” trick? Pure bull. I can lift all my fingers without any effort.
If that’s the best list of “impossible things” you can’t do with your body, I’m surprised you didn’t add any other “impossible” items like “Blinking while standing up” or “Drinking water during daylight hours”.
Miss Cellania
March 12th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I find it impossible to lose the love handles.
Tempscire
March 12th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Shucks. All I can do is bend the joint at my fingertips without bending the rest of my finger.
Lasse
March 12th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I can write and throw and catch a ball with the right and the left hand.
amandamayyy
March 12th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I can bend my thumb towards my wrist, forwards and backwards. ( Backwards Picture here http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/AmandaMayyy/hand.jpg ) It doesn’t show it all the way, but I can.
I can lock my fingertip. Picture here - http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/AmandaMayyy/Picture023.jpg
I can also touch my head to the back of my knees, foot behind my head, foot to my hip, and a buncha other things.
I’m pretty sure a lot of them come from being a vegetarian and not getting protein.
heather
March 12th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I can kinda life mt ring finger, but it hurts so I should probably stop.

One thing that I’ve always been able to do is bend my fingers backwards. They naturally go like that and it really freaks people out. I think it has something to do with extra tendons in my hands or something.

I’m not sure if it counts as wiggling, but whenever I hear a sudden sound behind me my ears twitch and I can move them a little.
sean
March 12th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I can curl my pinky finger into my hand without moving my ring finger (or any other finger) Its easy enough to learn, but most people are unable to do it when they first try
Toshichris
March 12th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Put your hand (either one) behind your back and touch the ear on the opposite side of your head. Requires some flexibility.
Shelby
March 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Carol Burnett is the queen of raising one eyebrow, while keeping the other one *completely still*. Isn’t most of what she does a highy evolved trait?

Also, my nephew, a decorated US Ranger Iraq war veteran, can gleek the heck out of that gland. Take that, Osama!
Christophe
March 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I used to “crack” the joint between my sternum and collar bones.
Freaked out several girlfriends
michael m
March 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
kiss your ass goodbye
josh o.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
wow, I didn’t believe the #6 trick until I tried it. I guess it is a left/right brain thing because i can’t do it righty-righty or lefty-lefty, but lefty-righty is just fine.

for people that can move the ring finger, are you putting the first or second knuckle down to the table? I can move my ring finger a little with the first knuckle down, but it is glued to the table with the second.
Padraig
March 12th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Hmmm… I can raise one eyebrow, gleek, twich my nose, touch my nose with my tongue, do the paralyzed finger trick, the six, and a couple of tongue tricks to boot. Do I get a prize or does that just make me a freak?

I can also flip my ankles. Figured that out while breakdancing in my early teens.
Kristine
March 12th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I belive this is pretty inpossible to normal people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AnYtHKqEcc&feature=related
Video Game Dork
March 12th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
yeah, the ring finger paralysis thing… you have to try to lift *only* your ring finger. its easy if you lift the other 3 first.
Jo Fletcher
March 12th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I can GLEEK…
I always thought I was a lonely freak but now I know there are others out there with the strange, useless talent I have.
Yay me!
Allison
March 12th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Another impossible task:

Put your side against the wall; left or right makes no difference. Make sure your shoulder, hip and ankle touch the wall. Now try to lift the other foot.

With a LOT of perseverance you MIGHT be able to pick it up, but you will definitely fall over (messes with your center of gravity).

As an aside, the whole “can’t tickle oneself” is one rule I don’t buy into. I HATE it when the bottom of my foot itches; it tickles too much to scratch it!
Jess
March 12th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I can gleek on demand (not just when I yawn, although sometimes it happens accidentally when I do), raise one eyebrow, draw the 6, and wiggle my ears. Yessss!
emptyminded
March 12th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I can make my tongue do a 360 degree rotation. But only one rotation. Then it has to go back.
AceKicker
March 12th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I can raise only one eyebrow without any special tricks or any effort to keep the other down. I never knew it was anything special!
Eric
March 12th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
The way I learned the rotating both fingers clockwise thing was to have them pointing at each other. Imagine there is a ball in front of you, and put both index finger on top of the ball. Now rotate your fingers around the ball in opposite directions, so they cross at top and bottom. Once you master that, try transitioning to airplane propellers, where both fingers are rotating clockwise and pointing forward. Anyone can do one or the other with a little practice, but not everyone can learn to transition smoothly.

I have always been able to do the ring finger thing. I learned it as making a steeple with all first knuckles touching but the ring fingers up, then try to separate the ring fingers.

I have 2 impossible things, that I can do, involving the pinky. The first is to make a tight fist around your pinky, without bending it. My hand folds over so the pinky is crosses the base of the other fingers. I use this to do a much better variation of the pulling off your thumb trick.

The second looks like braiding your fingers. Some people can fold their pinky up over the ring finger, then the ring finger up over the middle, and so on. I can go the other way, folding the pinky down the side of my hand, then the ring finger over the pinky, then the middle and index fingers.

I guess I should post a video. Thank you for the inspiration and other nifty tricks.
Cathy
March 12th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Oh, come on now. Is there REALLY anything so difficult about raising one eyebrow?? I have been able to raise each eyebrow separately as long as I can remember. I can also make this weird bird face… impossible to describe, but unforgettable to see…
Mark
March 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I have a super long tongue. I can do tricks with it, touch my elbow, touch my nose, and it has the potential to obtain world peace.
DCer
March 12th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I never understood the ring finger thing, when that first came around everyone in my office could do it. How is it “impossible?”
renderanything
March 13th, 2008 at 12:14 am
What can I do? I can wiggle either ear independently of the other and hold them in the upright position for undetermined ammounts of time, do the 6 and 8 with no problem, touch tongue to elbow, do the one eyebrow thing (needs more work), and a few others. One of my specialties, however, is the arm bent from shoulder up around the head in front to touch the ear of the same side as the arm. I’m not sure I’m describing it clearly enough, but it certainly freaks people out to see it. That and the hands connected behind the back brought around front again while not letting go of each other.
Courageous Grace
March 13th, 2008 at 12:50 am
I can:

Raise one eyebrow….but only my left one.
Wiggle my ears…but not independantly of one another.
Sneeze with my eyes open, but if I do it with my contacts on, they’ll pop out.
Tickle myself…I run a finger along the top of my hip very lightly.
Paralyzed finger trick, yes, I can.
The 6/8 thing with the leg. Also the rotate fingers thing.

Hubby can do the tongue touching nose thing…he has a very long tongue. It’s useful for other things as well

Referring to #6, Tinkergirl…my son (he’s 7 weeks old today) can cry/wheeze in two seperate tones…it freaks my husband out. Sounds like the kid is possessed

And my favorite single-eyebrow raiser has to be Christopher Judge….”Teal’c” on Stargate: SG1
shem
March 13th, 2008 at 2:01 am
The ring finger trick is easy if you keep your bent middle finger in the front. But if you bend it to touch your palm, lifting the ring finger becomes more difficult.
Lady Random
March 13th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I can do the tongue stuff too:
http://www.vimeo.com/125303
only i have a tongue piercing now and it’s harder to do it.
hoopie
March 13th, 2008 at 7:57 am
I can do the tongue curl (the edges almost meet) like the girls in the video, then whistle through it–sounds like a dove cooing, an I can whistle some actual songs–Yankee Doodle seems to work the best.
Nate Winchester
March 13th, 2008 at 8:16 am
How can no one mention the “one eye crossing” trick. You know how you cross your eyes? How many can move just one eye in but leave the other normal?
Wigleman
March 13th, 2008 at 8:41 am
I can toot my horn and wigle my ears one by one without moving my eyes.
There is something other trick that i can do with some hided muscles i found but i can’t explain it. It’s just fun.

Can i earn money with all that ?
Steven
March 13th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I can touch my pinky, ring, middle finger, and thumb to the inside of my wrist but cannot do it with my pointer finger.
Sergio
March 13th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Well, i think i´m sor of mutant breakdance ninja…! i can not only rise both eyebrows independently, but wave them in a breakdance style! watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tTAqz-PE4M
Utron
March 13th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I can raise one eyebrow, wiggle my ears, and do a few of the tongue tricks. (I’m definitely going to practice that smiley face.) Also, like commenter #26, I can flex my fingertips while holding the finger straight, and I used to be able to bend my thumb forwards or backwards to touch my wrist. I can still do it forwards, but the backwards ability faded pretty quickly after I passed thirty.
Leah
March 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I can lick my elbow, gleek, wiggle my ears, touch my tongue to my nose and chin, do the tongue curling tricks, twirl the index fingers, and draw the 6 and 8 while making circles with my feet. I can also bend in all sorts of crazy ass ways and touch my thumb to my wrist both backwards and forwards. And “shake” my eyeballs. And my toes are something else - I can pick things up with them, wiggle only the top knuckle on individual toes, bend all down but the big toe (like a “thumbs up”) and other things.

Plenty of people can do the “paralyzed ring finger” thing with the FIRST knuckle down. Can anyone do it with the second? (I sure as hell can’t)

It’s interesting that a lot of people seem to be able to do multiple things on the “impossible” list, while some can’t do any.
omnivore
March 13th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I can reach around my head with my left arm and touch my left ear; most people find this impossible, but a high ape index probably helps. Also, I have a couple friends who can make their eyeballs tremble or vibrate — you look in their eyes and their irises shake. Cool. Finally, as a swimmer, I can attest that some people (not me!) can blow bubbles out of their tear ducts.
Jacob
March 13th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I had no clue people had a hard time raising one eyebrow. I can do it quite easily, and often.
Jacki
March 13th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I thought most people could raise one eyebrow. Lol. And I don’t get the 6 thing. : P One really cool tongue trick is making a tongue bubble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXvAMqJ6e0
JJ
March 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
I can lock my fingertips at the first knuckle; dislocate and relocate both wrists and both thumbs at will; and do several of the tongue tricks. I can also do both of the pinky tricks #42 Eric mentioned.
Mackenzie
March 13th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
i can:
-lick my elbow
-touch my elbows behind my back
-cross my fingers to below the middle knuckle without assistance from my other hand (if that makes sense.) As in, i can give you the finger with my pointer wrapped around the middle one.
-the thumbs-up toe thing
-i have an apposable (opposable?) pinkie toe
-my elbows bend the wrong way

and other stuff to hard to explain
Bunny
March 14th, 2008 at 3:38 am
I can gleek, wiggle my ears, flare my nostris incessantly, flip/tube my tongue, lock the top joints of my fingers (left hand only),lock my left thumb in a creepy position.

I can also tie cherry stems into a knot with only my mouth.

And I only charge $1000/hr for my time, far less than “Kristen” does for client #9.

What a bargain!
License Farm
March 14th, 2008 at 6:21 am
I can wiggle my ears and nose, arch one eyebrow (my mother can do it too, but my dad and sister can’t), roll my tongue and gleek. I can also roll back my eyes until only white shows, which made me very popular in grade school, and crack my jaw like other people crack their knuckles.
martini
March 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
This is ridiculous. I can easily do half these nearly “impossible” things. So misleading, but I guess it grabs the attention more than “Things that are kinda hard to do with your body”
Michael J
March 14th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Is it possible to lick other people’s elbows?
diogenes
March 14th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The tounge thing would creep me out if those girls weren’t so damn adorable!
I can raise my left and right eyebrows on their own, but I never considered it a talent.
I knew a kid once when I young, who could pop his sternum in and out.
by the look of the comments above, Neatorama has got a lot of freaks reading the site!
Makes it hard to believe that 99.9999% thing.
Nat X
March 14th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
My parlor trick is “one hand clapping.” It freaks people out, but I’ve done it naturally since I was a little kid. Basically, I can keep my wrist stiff, while letting my fingers flop back and forth really fast, making a clapping sound on my palm. It’s pretty awesome.
Symon
March 14th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I can do that gleeking thing. I love the reaction I get from people.
Celeste
March 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I can wiggle my ears (though not independently, unfortunately) and sorta raise one eyebrow. Gleeking is something I’ve done many times but only ever inadvertently.

I totally can’t do any of the other things here, and believe me, I’ve tried most of them. I think some of you are overestimating how common your talents are, though I also know many people who can do these things, so they’re not altogether bizarre either.
Mohasin Zishan
March 14th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I can raise either of eye brows.
The unique that i can do is that i can move a vein of my right hand and a bone of my ring finger of left hand…i don’t know if it’s unique or not?
Shay
March 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I can raise one eyebrow, lick my elbow, wiggle my ears and do every single “tongue trick” posted. I can’t gleek though so I guess I’m not a complete freak.
Metabeta
March 15th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I can wiggle my pinky-toe on my right foot? Is that normal?
Valerie
March 15th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
This is something women can do and men cannot do. Place a chair up against a wall. Take three steps back. Bend forward and place your hands on the chair. Then while still holding on to the chair, move to an upright position without letting go of the chair. Women can do this. Men cannot.
Lisa
March 16th, 2008 at 2:11 am
My finger tendons seem to be attached in a different way also. If I bend or curl my thumb, using it’s muscle to hold it in as tight a curl possible, then I CANNOT straighten my index finger and I can only slightly uncurl my middle finger. If I hold my thumb down with my other hand (thereby relaxing my ‘thumb muscle’) I can move my other fingers freely.

Wierd, huh?
Rynnie
March 16th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I can do the ears.. all of the tongue except the clover and smiley…and tickle myself.. on the feet and the tongue one. not fun when your foot itches.
Mick
March 16th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
How about curling your upper lip? Most people for some reason can do it on the left but not the right. I can do both or either. I cannot however flare my nostrils at will.
Erik Kastner
March 16th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I can do a most of those things. One thing I haven’t seen anyone else do - I can rotate my elbow independent of my hand. Anyone can do it while their hand is against something (like a table or wall) but I can do it without holding anything.
jim
March 16th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
can anyone else blow bubbles long ago i did it 100 times in a row and id like to add that everyone can gleek its nothing special everyone does it in the dentist mostly
Exo
March 16th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
I’m kinda asymmetrical on this… Can only move my left ear, can only curl the right side of my upper lip…
The only really weird thing I can do is “turning off” my reflexes (like when the doctor explores the knee with the hammer) except the ones involving the eyes.

Here’s a new one: Press the back of your middle finger on a table’s surface, then move your hand so the palm is facing the table while keeping the rest of your fingers extended (so you’re touching the table with 2/3rds of the back of the middle finger and the tips of the others) and there’s the trick: try to raise your anular finger (2nd from the pinky) by force of will; very few people can do it.
Stephen
March 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I can sneeze with my eyes open, and I bet most people could if they tried. The trouble is /remembering/ to try as a sneeze approaches…
kris
March 18th, 2008 at 8:26 am
I can do a bunch of the things on this list:
raising/lowering either eyebrow; gleeking; tongue to my elbow or my chin; all the tongue-tricks; clockwise/counter-clockwise rotation; sneezing with eyes open; plus a few others: reach around my head with my arm and touch the same ear; touch my pupils with my finger and fold my eyelids without blinking; actually the eyebrow-raising and the gleeking often happens by itself, which can be socially awkward — if you don’t already know how to do them, I’d advise against teaching yourself.
1st place..
March 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I can do the 6 thing. Turn my tongue riund + the parylised finger thing. I can also move my knuckles so that you can see/feel/hear them moving. I can also cross my toes, bend my thumb behind my han, touch thumb to arm + lie pinky flat across palm
LOve you not
March 20th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I can nearly lick my elbow…:(
Neosapience
March 20th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I can do most of these things. I guess I’m a freak.

Cool!
eydryan
March 31st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I actually learned raising only one eyebrow when i was a kid watching johnny bravo on cartoon network. I tried to see if i could raise one, couldn’t, and after trying for about a day or so I managed to lift the left one alone (started as basically lifting them both to the left). took a few days more to be able to lift the right one alone as well.

fun stuff
Jayme
March 31st, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I can twitch my nose, do the “6″ trick, the paralized finger thing… I got that one too…lol…
I’m at least 6 inches from licking my elbow… lol, BUT I can like the back of my knee… thats a cool party trick…
Kevin
April 7th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I don’t know how many people can do this, but I have double-jointed fingers, can pop out my thumb, and can voluntarily dislocate my shoulders, hips, and wrists. Also I have hyper extended elbows and all that. Fun stuff!
Fileprompt for free software
April 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I can pick my nose in my sleep, is that worth doing a video of?
dan
April 7th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
it is pretty impossible to take a shit without taking a piss. Without cheating that is…
SBlade
April 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Eh, with the tongue tricks I can “swallow” my tongue. It’s more of bringing back the tip to the back of your throat. Without vomiting.
Adrienne
April 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Fold your toes!!!

You fold them like you would fold your hands… interlocking your fingers together. But now do it with your toes… DON’T USE YOUR HANDS!!

I saw this on Oddville MTV once and discovered that I could do it too. I’ve never met anyone else who could do it since.
Eva M
April 7th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Try this: Hold your hands in front of you. With one hand, make a thumbs-up. With the other hand, point with your index finger (palm facing your other hand, make sure your thumb is down. Now, switch so that the thumbs-up hand is now pointing and the pointing hand is now thumbs-up. Repeat, faster and faster. Eventually, you’ll be able to do it very well.
pissedoff
April 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Auto-fellatio is possible for any [skinny, otherwise healthy] person patient enough to try, but for those who are not naturally able (size, flexibility), it is dangerous and above all else extremely painful (besides the back pain, I get headaches and nausea). Personally, the pain keeps it from being any fun.
Otto Felator
April 7th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I can draw a 6 while making clockwise circles with my foot, but every time I try to draw an 8, for some reason I wind up sucking my penis.
Arlo Owens
April 7th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I can close each nostril individually!

I can also clap my feet like they are hands!
martin
April 7th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
i can keep my ring finger straight as i curl my pinky as far as it can go. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE unless you have no tendon in your ring finger like me
Jordy
April 7th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
What about shaking your eyes.
I can shake my eyes, like a vibration for a few seconds (have to go cross-eyed to do it though :()
CeeEll
April 7th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Wow, I did pretty well on this list, only failing on the tongue-to-the-elbow, autofellatio, strange tongue tricks, and the paralyzed ring finger. oO

It’s weird, but I found out how to gleek by yawning while laying on my back… no idea why, but it’s very easy to do it in that position. Of course, the down-side is, your face gets very wet after a while. <<
Andy Roads
April 7th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Autofelatio - Why I never…………..
Jay
April 7th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Here is a different one. Hold your left foot with your right hand and then without letting go, jump your right foot through the loop. My kids can do it, me and my siblings can do it, my dad could do it. Other then family, I’ve only met 1 other person that could do it. Then to make it tougher, try to jump both forward and backward through the loop, my son is the only one I’ve seen that can go both directions.
Mason
April 7th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU&feature=related

video of rotating left ringer clockwise, and right counter clockwise. very tough!
Ah
April 7th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
My brother and I have been glicking for over 15 years.. we didn’t really have a name for it so just made it up. Glikke or Glikking (based upon the sound made when forcing the spit out) - in norwegian, i doubt we created the word, but in all honesty we just made the word up, so a huge coincidence that it happens to be the same. We’d sit in the back seat of the car and annoy the hell out of each other. He would also create spit bubbles and blow them out so that they would land on me. Usually ended up in a fight or argument.

Wriggling of ears, the tongue tricks and eye brows all really simple - heard that most people cant do these tricks due to genetic differences, not so sure that is true. With a bit of practice most ppl can do it.
Angela
April 7th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Well, the tongue thing I can do, the eyebrow thing with either eyebrow, the nose twitching, I can bend my fingers backwards until they touch the top of my arm, I can turn my feet completely backwards, and I can turn my arm full circle. Both of my thumbs can lay on my forearm, and I can bend and put my hands flat on the floor while my knees stay straight. I can sit in the cross-legged yoga position and bend completely forward putting my forehead on the floor.
Oh, and I have something called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and can dislocate any joint in my body. I’ll trade all these talents away.
Peter
April 7th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I have hitchhiker’s thumb on both hands (i can bend my thumb to a 90 degree angle)
http://www.biolessons.com/lessonplans/genetics/pictures/hitchhiker.jpg

I can lock all of my fingertips (except the thumb, which is not possible)

And I can snap the tendon on my ring finger audibly.

Oh, and my toes spread wide enough for me to interlock them.
Brandon
April 7th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I can do this little thing with my wrists. I do this compress and twist thing, which makes a really loud cracking noise and can get to the point where it sounds like a broken bone. Not really useful for anything but bugging the sister, but whatever.
Cory
April 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
i can raise one eyebrow, gleak, do the ring finger thing, tickle myself, and draw the six without my foot changing direction.
Mark
April 7th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I can goatse.
BEAT THAT.
pilot of the hatredcopter
April 7th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I can ‘Gleek’ but it’s totally inaccurate, so annoying lol.
I wanna perfect it to the point of being able to ‘gleek’ people in the eyes, like that dinosaur in Jurassic Park.
Mike D
April 7th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
How about independently wiggling the tendon across the top of knuckle? is that strange?

or perhaps flipping coins by popping my thumb joint?

or making my shoulder blades pop out so far they look like wings
pilot of the hatredcopter
April 7th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I can also do this well strange thing with my left hand.
With the back of my hand pressed flat to a table or similar, I curl my middle finger up slowly, and it clicks back down sharply banging against the surface.
Its pretty cool.
alicia
April 7th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
i can raise both eyebrows independently, i can roll my tongue, i can tickle my own feet, i can do a few things that some people have told me were really weird with my fingers, i can put my fist in my mouth, and i dont think i can anymore, but when i was younger and more flexible if i wanted to i could put my head in my own crotch…
also as someone else mentioned i can vibrate my eyes… that really disturbs some people…
alicia
April 7th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
oh yea, i can also put one arm over my shoulder and one around behind me and hold my own hand… i can use my feet almost exactly like hands (my ex used to call me monkey feet…) and my elbows bend backwards a tiny bit, which isnt a talent at all, but it still weirds people out…. and i can kick myself in the back of the head…

i used to be a dancer…
so for me that explains a lot of the things i can do…
charkol
April 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I can raise my eyebrows. Have been able to forever.

I can wiggle both my ears. Have been able to forever.

And thats where my mutant powers end, haha.
Joe
April 7th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I can raise each eyebrow independently, do all of the tongue tricks except the clover, wiggle my nose, move my adam’s apple up and down without swallowing, pop my ears without swallowing, plugging my nose, etc (by flexing the muscles that open my eustachian tubes to force a partial yawn), touch the end of my nose with my tongue, gleek, and even dislocate my shoulders by flexing a muscle (I can dislocate my hips in a different way).

I suspect that I haven’t sprained my ankles for the same reason that I can dislocate my shoulders and hips.
dixon
April 7th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I can turn beer into urine…
Crystal
April 7th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I can:
~do most of the tongue tricks, not the smiley one though.
~twitch my nose, but I can also wiggle my nose up and down without moving my upper lip. I’ve only seen one other person who can do it.
~wiggle my ears
~Move eyebrows up and down independantly
~lock fingers
~blow the spit bubbles that float ever so gently through the air
~move my eyes in opposite directions

With a resume like that, I do believe I’m a freak.
Although the I couldn’t move my ring finger, touch my tongue to my nose or chin, gleek, or put my fist in my mouth. I’ll keep working on it.
Jacob S
April 7th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I can shake my eyes back and forth extremely rapidly. I know two or three people in my school who can also do it so it’s not hugely, hugely uncommon but the vast majority of people can’t do it. Has something to do with the eye muscles or something I guess, I don’t really have any idea how to explain how to do it.
theMaykazine
April 7th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I can whistle through my nose. It amuses me at boring parties.
Brent
April 7th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
It’s interesting no one has mentioned this one yet: I can move my scalp. I can move my scalp forward and backwards without moving my ears or eyebrows.

I’m also pretty good with ear and eyebrow control (independently), and I can do simple tongue tricks. I can also make my thumb do the wave, which a lot of people I know can’t do for some reason. I also pop my toes like you would pop your knuckles, and I pop my eyelids (put your thumb and index finger on each side of your upper eyelid, level with your eyelash, and squeeze - your eyelid should make a popping noise and separate from your eyeball). I can also twinkle my nose.
peter
April 7th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I can do the eyebrow thing, the wiggle ears thats all easy, what really shocked people was the eye shaking thing, it would freak people out!
Its extremely rapid and and everything looks crazy
i havnt met anyone else that can do it.
i can do it for long periods of time without any problem. Its really trippy if i do it while im drunk and out at a club dancing!
matt
April 7th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I can do all of those except 9, 1 and the fist in the mouth.

I can also
-make a horizontal crease with my tongue and pulse it in and out.
-rotate tongue 180 degrees in both directions
-cross my eyes without looking down then move one eyeball from side to side while the other eyeball is looking inward!!
-make spit bubbles that seem to fly away
-vibrate my eyes
-make my hips pop

Glad to know there are other people who can do the same thing!
Daecho
April 8th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I can:
Raise an eyebrow
Wiggle each ear
Bend the ring finger
Circle 6 drawing

Off this list, i can also roll my eyes up and out of view, so… no pupil, disadvantage is i can’t see, advantage… well i love going to disneyland… standing in line, leaning up against a pole with my friends around, and rolling my eyes up…. and listening to the kids or parents freak out that i’m dead or something’s painfully wrong with me.