What are you an expert in?

[GracieJane]

What’s the weird thing you know a lot about? What topic could you talk about all day?

[Harriet Vane]

Crazy dysfunctional people. 

Also, literature. I double majored in English and Rhetoric, and I just love dissecting stories and writing. 

[rebcoola]

Soccer.  I can talk all day about the history of soccer in America. Why it's been popular to play but not watch/attend.  Every detail about my beloved Sounders since 1974 

[Pawz4me]

Dogs

[Jean in Newcastle]

Japan

the Bible

dogs

rabbits

[Selkie]

Animal welfare

Horses, natural horsemanship, and equine rescue

Dogs in general, herding breeds, hounds, and the care of rescue dogs who have special needs, are elderly, or are from hoarding situations

Nutrition & healthy living

True crime

[SKL]

A couple of specific tax code sections.

Hmm ... I actually know a lot about a lot, but at an expert level?  Not so much.  And even in the areas where I know more than others, my experience/research is kind of old now.

I guess I could talk a fair amount about adoption, legal immigration, and world travel.

Gosh, I feel so worthless right now ....

[fraidycat]

Emotions

[GailV]

Knitting

Geriatric cats

Weird specific info about plants, eg, plants can get drunk

Actually I'm a font of weird trivia on a number of subjects, but don't consider myself an expert on the broader categories.  Like, I can whip out some stuff about fascia but I wouldn't consider myself an expert, just a person who goes on research tangents.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I figured that the question about being an "expert" was relative.  I don't have a PHD level expertise in anything I mentioned but I didn't take the question that literally. 

[Jaybee]

I'm more of a generalist, I suppose. I know weird random facts about lots of unexpected things, but it's neither the kind that helps in trivia games nor is it deep enough to be respected. So...I'm an expert generalist?🤷‍♀️😁

[elegantlion]

Medieval English history - most of my expertise is 12th and 13th century. More specifically Forest Law of the 12th & 13th century.

paper planners 

 

[Sneezyone]

Romance novels. I can pretty much dissect a story and know the arc/end point within the first chapter or two. It makes me a horrible movie watcher too. DH no longer asks if I saw ‘that’ coming.

[Jenny in Florida]

Not an "expert" in anything, but I can nerd out and get all jargony about instructional design and adult learning principles.

[MooCow]

The Tudors/The war of the Roses, Cheap shopping- living frugally, cleaning, criminal justice, 504/IEPs, homeschooling, low carb diets. The Simpsons 😂 . 

[alisoncooks]

9 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

Romance novels. I can pretty much dissect a story and know the arc/end point within the first chapter or two. It makes me a horrible movie watcher too. DH no longer asks if I saw ‘that’ coming.

This is totally me. My family says I spoil every movie, but I don’t mean to! I just quickly see where the plot is going (and I’m not good at holding my tongue!). 

[Indigo Blue]

I think I have this weird, innate ability to figure out how to communicate with cats or dogs. It’s natural and intuitive for me. I don’t necessarily mean how to train a cat or a dog, but rather how to gain their trust, teach them meanings of words, etc. I usually end up with a pet who knows and understands lots of words and can do lots of things. I’m good at spotting the intelligence in them that others may be oblivious to. (My ds has a very intelligent cat, but I don’t think he truly understands the depth of it!)

I wouldn’t call myself an expert. It’s just a thing that I intuit naturally, and when I see others trying to calm a scared pet, I can intuitively see how they are making things worse. 

I also think I have a good bit of emotional intelligence, but at the same time, I need someone to validate or check my perspective often. I don’t know if this is a “skill”. 

(Now that I’m typing this all out, I’m just realizing that life experiences may play a huge part in why I have always bonded with animals on such a deep emotional level, and life experiences may also play a huge part in why I need a perspective check so often. Go figure).
 

 

[Laura Corin]

Dorothy Sayers

Jane Austen

Muddling through in foreign countries 

[cjzimmer1]

I would say plants/gardening but it's limited to annuals/veggies because that's what we grow in the greenhouse i work at.

I could talk a lot of rescue dogs but I'm nowhere near expert on that as it's a new hobby of mine.

[GracieJane]

27 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

Romance novels. I can pretty much dissect a story and know the arc/end point within the first chapter or two. It makes me a horrible movie watcher too. DH no longer asks if I saw ‘that’ coming.

This is very cool. It’s like your party trick!

[frogger]

Nada

Sometimes this affects my self-esteem but I think I'm a decent wife and mother. I hope all my children get a chance to pursue somethings and become good at them. The first three decades of my life were mostly survival. Maybe I will have more time to become an expert at something when I am done homeschooling.

I guess I'm an expert at making a meal out of strange pantry odds and ends. 

 

[GracieJane]

9 minutes ago, frogger said:

Nada

Sometimes this affects my self-esteem but I think I'm a decent wife and mother. I hope all my children get a chance to pursue somethings and become good at them. The first three decades of my life were mostly survival. Maybe I will have more time to become an expert at something when I am done homeschooling.

I guess I'm an expert at making a meal out of strange pantry odds and ends. 

 

That’s actually a very creative skill! I‘m an awful cook and it is amazing to watch someone create a meal out of nothing.

[Shoeless]

I have a surprising amount of knowledge regarding early 20th century kitchens and traditional "women's work" of that era. 

Be glad you never had to care for a cast iron stove! 

[TCB]

I’m not an expert but I like to discuss robotics all day. Not everyone around me feels that way, but fortunately my dd’s fiancé is robotics obsessed also, so I can always count on him for a good discussion about it.

[Dmmetler]

An expert? Very little. I'm constantly learning more. However, I can talk quite a bit about musical development in children, homeschool math programs  for advanced learners, advanced kids and biology, reptiles and amphibians, dragon myths and legends, Pokemon, and Neopets. The first I actually have studied and made a career out of. The rest are a side effect of being L's mom :). 

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

3 minutes ago, MissLemon said:

I have a surprising amount of knowledge regarding early 20th century kitchens and traditional "women's work" of that era. 

Be glad you never had to care for a cast iron stove! 

I lived with my brother and wife in an off the grid log cabin back in their hippie days. (Actual hippies - not the generic term). I know how to care for a cast-iron stove. I also know how to heat a cast-iron iron and very carefully press clothing without singeing them. 

[stephanier.1765]

Nothing for me too. I consider myself a Jack of all trades. I know how to do a lot of things but I'm an expert at none. Right now I could talk anyone's ear off about Animal Crossing but not only am I not an expert, I bet it's super annoying too.

[Arcadia]

I change topic probably every few minutes.Acquaintances have asked whether I was adhd or autistic. 

I could have a fun chat about English Premier League since I have been following Liverpool, Man U and Everton from the late 70s til now courtesy of my cousins being fans.

I could have a serious chat about tech stuff. All my full time jobs were in tech and my husband is still in tech.

I could have a discussion about earthquake engineering since I studied that as an undergraduate and I am staying in California which has earthquakes

I could chatty chat about lots of stuff. I have old friends who agree to disagree so its fun chatting with them.

[Eos]

I'm really good at helping new babies and new mamas learn to nurse.  I don't want to be a lactation consultant, but I could be quite easily.

[Pawz4me]

48 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

I think I have this weird, innate ability to figure out how to communicate with cats or dogs. It’s natural and intuitive for me. I don’t necessarily mean how to train a cat or a dog, but rather how to gain their trust, teach them meanings of words, etc. I usually end up with a pet who knows and understands lots of words and can do lots of things. I’m good at spotting the intelligence in them that others may be oblivious to. (My ds has a very intelligent cat, but I don’t think he truly understands the depth of it!)

I wouldn’t call myself an expert. It’s just a thing that I intuit naturally, and when I see others trying to calm a scared pet, I can intuitively see how they are making things worse.

We're sisters!

I seem to be able to train most dogs to do most anything, but I'm not always (or even often) good at explaining to others how to do it. I know a good bit about dog training methods and theories, but most of it is just kind of background noise in my brain. When I'm working with a dog I just somehow know what to do, even though it would often look very unconventional to anyone who follows popular training methods. My mother had a picture of me as a toddler sitting outside beside a GSD--I think it was my uncle's, but it could have been one of my grandparents' dogs. Just sitting there silently "communing" with the dog. I was told that he was a dog who disliked almost everyone else, but apparently he adored my little self and would do whatever I "told" him to do in my toddler speak. Who knows exactly what it is or where it comes from, but I've always felt blessed to have it.

[fairfarmhand]

Cows

Chickens

Mental Illness and Emotional Wellness

I know a lot about the Bible but I'm wary of claiming the title of expert WRT to that....

[Scarlett]

Genealogy

Detective work of all sorts/present me with questions and I will find the answers.

Customer service.

The Bible

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, fairfarmhand said:

Cows

Chickens

Mental Illness and Emotional Wellness

I know a lot about the Bible but I'm wary of claiming the title of expert WRT to that....

Ha, same here, but I decided to go ahead and list it in view of Jean mentioning this is a relative list of expertise.

[DreamerGirl]

Expert ? Well, one thing I know through experience is knowing things is not expertise, not enough to give anyone any advice certainly.

People ask me about immigration, I always direct them to an attorney because I had all sorts of people claim to be experts on that because they went through it and got bad advice. 

Cooking ? Nope, can't teach because I do not measure. Even my kids cannot learn from me because of that.

I know a little about some things. A lot about others because I put in the effort to learn about them.

I try to help and share as much as I can, have conversations on things that interest me. But there is a line between thinking I am an expert and knowing I am not in something. It can actually harm someone because people think they are experts and give bad advice.

So an expert on knowing when to keep my mouth shut and point to an actual expert  ? 

Yep, that is my super power.

[ikslo]

Formatting Word documents.  It’s my superpower.  I actually enjoy it.  I could format Word documents for 8 hours a day and not get bored.

I can’t look at a Word document now without the paragraph marks turned on, though.  Sometimes I clean up other people’s documents just so I can read them, LOL.  Okay so maybe more OCD than a superpower.  But people in my company do send me documents all the time and say, “why is it doing this and how do I fix it?”

[KatieJ]

Expert no, but I have over 50 years experience sewing, professionally, and for my family. I specialize in sewing knits at this point in my life, but that is a newer field for a lot of sewers. 

[ikslo]

9 minutes ago, DreamerGirl said:

Yep, that is my super power.

🤣 we were mind-melding I think 

[Sneezyone]

2 minutes ago, KatieinMich said:

Expert no, but I have over 50 years experience sewing, professionally, and for my family. I specialize in sewing knits at this point in my life, but that is a newer field for a lot of sewers. 

Ooohhhh…speak to me of this sorcery! I hate knits but regularly sew garments. I may be able to gift myself some new machines for Christmas! I learned from my grandma and mom, neither of whom sewed knits.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Sneezyone

[ikslo]

1 hour ago, KatieinMich said:

Expert no, but I have over 50 years experience sewing, professionally, and for my family. I specialize in sewing knits at this point in my life, but that is a newer field for a lot of sewers. 

I think 50 years of professional sewing makes you an expert.  If not you, then who?

Edited November 5, 2021 by ikslo

[kbutton]

2e kids--navigating testing and accommodations, not so much on the acceleration side

Hooking people up with resources that I know about

Random things about sewing or other crafts

Knowing about random things well enough to listen well and sometimes ask good questions

There are always people that know more about these things, but at least where I live, people are always surprised at what I know. To some extent, that reflects a lack of interest (but not always), and if I were dropped into a college town with interesting people, I would likely be boring and lame (but enjoy adding to my list of things I know about).

 

[KatieJ]

1 minute ago, Sneezyone said:

Ooohhhh…speak to me of this sorcery! I hate knits but regularly sew garments. I may be able to gift myself some new machines for Christmas!

Babylock serger that has a coverstitch function or a separate coverstitch machine. ..Pfaff sewing machine with the built in IDT foot. 
I sewed for literally de aces with my Pfaff, made all of my daughters wardrobes from swimsuits and underwear to their frilly dresses. I wore out a Pfaff (it’s pretty hard to wear out an older Pfaff) and had to buy a new one a few years ago…no regrets. I sew most of my tops now. 

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

Ooohhhh…speak to me of this sorcery! I hate knits but regularly sew garments. I may be able to gift myself some new machines for Christmas! 

It is sorcery!!! Knits scare me to death. My grandmother could deal with them, but she would've been stressed to teach me, and now she's old enough that sewing all but super simple things is a stressor.

 

[KatieJ]

4 minutes ago, ikslo said:

I think 50 years of professional sewing makes you an expert.  If not you than who?

I am very aware of the gaps in my knowledge …so therefore I am not an expert seamstress, but I can sew your kids wardrobe! 

[Sneezyone]

4 minutes ago, KatieinMich said:

Babylock serger that has a coverstitch function or a separate coverstitch machine. ..Pfaff sewing machine with the built in IDT foot. 
I sewed for literally de aces with my Pfaff, made all of my daughters wardrobes from swimsuits and underwear to their frilly dresses. I wore out a Pfaff (it’s pretty hard to wear out an older Pfaff) and had to buy a new one a few years ago…no regrets. I sew most of my tops now. 

I started on my mom’s old Elna but have a Janome Pro now. It’s great for bags and thick wovens/leather but the lack of free arm and chewing up the fabric at the start is a serious turnoff. I would like to add a serger and cover lock but fear the learning curve/threading. Sigh. Time to put on my big girl undies.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Sneezyone

[KatieJ]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

It is sorcery!!! Knits scare me to death. My grandmother could deal with them, but she would've been stressed to teach me, and now she's old enough that sewing all but super simple things is a stressor.

 

My mom started sewing knits the minute they started making patterns for them in the 60s. Both of my home ec sewing projects were knits, even my instructor was intimidated. 

[TheReader]

In the sense of "what can I talk about for hours" I'd say quilting.  In the sense of "expert enough to teach people things" -- my friend that owns the quilt shop has asked me to teach a class, but it surprises me for her to say that. I don't feel like I have anything worth teaching (or, rather, it seems so simple and easy that I can't imagine anyone paying for a class on the thing she wants me to teach).  I don't consider myself expert in that regard, at all. But I could happily talk to you for hours about it. 

*garments or bags?? forget it. I cannot do 3D things pretty much at all.

I'm fairly knowledgeable at this point on teaching kids with dyslexia, and teaching the early grades in general, but again, not expert-expert. 

Other than that I'm pretty boring, I think. Well, ha, currently on a Stardew Valley kick but ummm, I try not to drone on and on about it. 

[Melissa Louise]

Nothing.

Am a dilettante  in everything. 

[Carrie12345]

Jill of all trades, master of none, my adhd can’t settle on one. 😆 

I will talk education, emergency preparedness, kid idiosyncrasies, and mental health until someone wants me to stop.

I will gladly participate in raging against any machine with an enthusiastic partner.

I readily provide many caveats and I don’t know/I’m not certain roll off my tongue regularly.

If I were to master something, I’m convinced I’d get bored of it.

[Ausmumof3]

Compared to normal people, chickens.  Compared to chicken people, not so much.

[alisoncooks]

I can’t think of much. 

I do know an awful lot about Harry Potter…

And I’m pretty knowledgeable about exercise physiology (not expert level — I have no certifications — but I think I know more than the *average* person.)