Thanks Jan, I just had to try. No one around to see me fail. Skipped around the house shutting the blinds. Sounded like I was going to fall thruogh the floor. But I can still skip. Startled cats scattered for safety.

What I can't do is climb high school gym bleachers. Thought I was going to tumble to the basketball court and totally embaress the dd.

Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Cat's in the cream jar,
Ooh, ooh, ooh,
Cat's in the cream jar,
Ooh, ooh, ooh,
Cat's in the cream jar,
Ooh, ooh, ooh,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Off to Texas,
Two by two,
Off to Texas,
Two by two,
Off to Texas,
Two by two,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

VERSION 2

Lost my partner,
What'll I do?
Lost my partner,
What'll I do?
Lost my partner,
What'll I do?
Skip to my lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

I'll get another one
Prettier than you,
I'll get another one
Prettier than you,
I'll get another one
Prettier than you,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Can't get a red bird,
Jay bird'll do,
Can't get a red bird,
Jay bird'll do,
Can't get a red bird,
Jay bird'll do,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Twisted Geezer -

But Don can you skip? :0)

It's too dark and cold out and I don't want to scare Rags so I'll wait until tomorrow. I have a cold but I think I could skip to the mailbox. I think it's a sense memory, like riding a bike. Anyone who has ever ridden a bike could get on one tomorrow and ride, even if it had been years. I will be applying my theory to skipping tomorrow.

Do you remember those skipping bits on Monty Python? Hilarious.

When was it geared bikes with the brake lever on the handlebar became popular? I remember some adult getting on a neighbor's bike, riding down gentle hill and winding up in ditch when he couldn't find the brake...lol

Not sure about skipping though I still dance...maybe it's because I've been dancing all my life but gave up skipping long years ago. Maybe tomorrow out on the grass...softer landing spot just in case. josh

Raising my hand here. I skipped all the time with my grandson when he was little,and my knee wasn't acting up. It's hard to believe but hip hop is based on your basic skipping step.

Here is a link that might be useful: hip hop

When I taught pre-school I did physical readiness with the children. To teach a child to skip, you just alternate feet doing step,hop and step,hop.

With my arthritic knees I can barely walk.Hopefully I am getting a new one soon.

And I remember being so upset when i got my son's pre-school report card that he failed skipping lol...he did great in everything else...took a bit and i was finally happy that he could tie his shoes, knew where he lived, his parents name etc etc it was like "Screw Skipping" lol...it's fun but do you really need to know how to skip...ok how many of you can roll your tongue?????????

I thought we all knew how to skip instinctively when we were kids.

Are we all talking about the same thing? Anyone British reading this might think we were talking about jumping rope, we call it skipping in the UK and when I first read the title to this thread I thought that's what it was about.

Yep. I teach my pre-K students to skip, so I get lots of practice. I can gallop too, which is easier. (This week we are learning the Bunny Hop.)

It surprises me, but I can skip even though it's sort of lopsided. Off the smooth beat. Any way, that was part of the PT, after learning how to climb steps properly.

Josh ~ my first "fancy" bike, imported and bought in 1954 had hand brakes. I liked them so much, I brought a set and attached them to my "working" bike. Sheesh, I could still probably change the pads while blindfolded (steep hills with a basket full of newspapers wore out a set of brake pads every few months). I just looked it up... rim brakes (close ancestor of today's caliper brakes) were used in the 1890's.

I can skip. I can roll my tongue. And, I can do the Elvis lip curl (know what I mean?)

Oh, and I can wiggle my ears... anyone else?

Speaking of jump-rope. I never did learn how to do double-dutch. I always wanted to. I could turn the ropes for someone else, but I never could jump right.

roll tongue,lip curl,wiggle my ears but can't whistle unless I'm doing it on an inhale.

Jan, another of your great stories, just like the balm I needed.

Yes I can skip. And hopscotch, and play jacks, and jump rope (even by running in while it's going with two people on either end), and swing higher than anyone else. I can roll my tongued, wiggle my ears, and raise one eyebrow. I can whistle (with fingers, any combination, two pinkies, a pinky and a thumb, etc.) loud enough to shut up 250 teenagers all talking like a bunch of geese honking, and spread across a football field (had to do this for marching band in high school, and still do it call LF back home).

Can you roller skate?

Ok im going outside and im going to TRY to skip. If i break my hip i'll know who to blame.
PS...im miss skipping.

Yes I can skip. I just have to remind myself ever so often not to, especially when I run with the grocery cart across the parking lot. You get those funny stares, little old ladies are not supposed to skip, rollerblade or skateboard either.

Saw the title of this post & before I even read it, I had to try to skip because lord only knows when it was that I skipped last. I'm happy to report that I'm still able to do it, although I didn't have my feet going the right way the first couple of steps.

I never could roller skate. I guess I'm just not coordinated enough.

I also can't whistle using my fingers. I can whistle fine using just my mouth, but I always wanted to be able to whistle using my fingers. lol

i'll have to get back to you on that..as i'm in a small area and no room to get a good skip going and having had a 2 day ice storm, outside would be a very dangerous experience to even think about..having had hip replacement my guess would be NO

Marda, can you tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue?

I never got the Elvis lip curl down pat but I can sing
and swivel my hips and do that leg thing.

I'm laughing my @ss off imagining you all skipping.

I skipped this morning...it felt so good! I decided not to wait 'til the mail came to skip, I just got up and skipped around my front yard after I put the trash out. As I suspected, it came back to me in an instant and gave my neighbor a good laugh. He was going to go inside and ask his wife if she could skip. Jan, this may sweep the country!

How interesting that in this country you teach children how to skip and the right way to walk up stairs. I never heard of such a thing.

I whistle really well, I can roller skate, I can raise one eyebrow. I cannot (nor have I ever tried) to roll my tongue or tie a knot in a cherry stem.

No wonder we lost the Empire!

It' a little harder to do on carpeting, but yes, I can still skip! Probably not for very long or very far, though. I never could whistle very well; I always wanted to suck air in instead of blow it out. Roller skating was really fun, but I'd be hesitant to try it now; too many bones which might get broken when I fell.

I thought rolling your tongue and wiggling your ears were genetic things, b/c DH can do both of them, but only one of our three kids can. He's also double-jointed in his thumbs and when they were little and he'd *unjoint* them--or whatever it was he did to make them look weird, it amazed and horrified them, me too!

Janis, this is a fun thread!

Ah! but Sheila, there is a right way to skip.

I called my friend Billie yesterday and left this message on her phone.
"Billie, this is Jan call me as soon as you can, it's important."

She called back. "What's wrong, honey, do you have an
emergency?" "No, but you do, Billie, I hate to break this
to you but you don't know how to skip properly."
"You can't just flap your arms like you're doing the Funky
Chicken, Billie, you have to tuck your elbows in toward your waist."

"How do you know?" "You can barely get your feet off the
ground anyway."

"I looked it up on the internet, Billie."

There was this long silence followed by laughter.
"You have way too much time on your hands, girl."

"I know, Billie, I'll meet you at the track in the morning
at nine, we'll practice skipping." :0)

tie a knot in a cherry stem??? with my tongue???????? If it were several inches long I might be able to,but not the teeny little stems they have around here,and I'm not going to say another word about that either.

I got this in an email this morning.
________________________________________________________________

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

'I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this
procedure for 2 weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at
least 5 pounds.

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly
60lbs!

'Why, that's
amazing!' the doctor said, 'Did you follow my
instructions?'

The Irishman nodded...'I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I
were going
to drop dead on dat 3rd day.'

'From the hunger, you mean?' asked the doctor.

'No, from the skippin'

Yes, I can skip. I had to get right up and try it. A moment of terror hit, at the possiblility that I might have lost this talent. You know how it's hard to do something so natural when you have to stop and think about it? That's what entered my mind. I had never consiously broken skipping down to the kinetics.

I can also roll my tongue, curl my lip like elvis and wiggle my ears. Like Marda, I can only whistle on the inhale, and figure it is because of the way my teeth shifted around when my wisdom teeth came in, over and over, and grew over, and came in. That's when I lost the space between my two front teeth. I used to have one to rival Sybil Shepherd. I can also bend my thumbs back to touch my wrists.

I'm taking yoga and working on putting my head between my shins and looking behind me. I'm figuring I will accomplish this when I'm 163 years old.

I just tried and I still can skip! Haven't one this for a long time, really surprised myself.
Now I wonder if I still could get up on a water-ski, probably keep wondering, there is no place to try.

forgot to mention that I skipped wearing my Hi-Tech hitop hiking boots! Extra points, I think.

Lilo, I'm impressed.
Skipping in your hiking boots, you sure do get extra points.

GO LILO!!!!!!

Janis, your Irish skippin' joke was very funny. LOL

Suzi, bending your thumb back to touch your wrist is w-a-a-a-a-y better than just having double-jointed thumbs! I'm impressed!

The people who skipped this thread are really missing something!

Ok i can still skip...
Note to self...remember to wear a bra when skipping.

Did you bruise your chin, Pam? LOL

Yep can still skip.

I'm sitting here getting mental picture of everyone reading the thread & then getting up from behind their computer screen to see if they could still skip. Jan, you may have increased out health by getting us to vigorously move around.

Jan, you make my heart smile. :o)

Yes, I can skip. Heck, I learned this year I can even play hopscotch in stilettos!

I have the genetic marker that enables me to roll my tongue. I lost my ability to whistle musically when I got braces and headgear and my overbite was corrected. (I can still whistle dog and wolf calls, but can't carry a tune.) My only inherited "stupid human trick" is that my elbows hyper-extend. I can put my palms flat on the table in front of me and rotate them 360* while still maintaining table contact.

I remember the skip test in kindergarten. I could skip, I could gallup, but I couldn't walk up the steps "correctly." I still maintain that if you're under 3" tall, it's OK to lead with the right foot, one step at a time...

My elbows do that too, Michelle. It's neat when you are a sweet young thing to have such limber joints, and it's a mixed blessing when you hit sixty. I have always had to keep my leg muscles very developed because they're the only thing holding my my legs and thighs to my kneecaps in anywhere the proper position. When your knees want to bend backwards, it's a little more painful with the patella in their way.

I'm rather fond of galloping. I used to sing "Here Comes The Galloping Major" and gallop around the house.

My DH reminded me that he can also touch his nose with his tongue.

Suzy, I don't have to wait until sixty to suffer for that quirk... I've been in and out of physical therapy because my shoulder sockets are so loose that my doctor could put his finger in the socket while the shoulder is also there. Turns out being a "loose (jointed) woman" isn't much fun at all!

Jan, I am on Steve's computer while he's in the shower. We're in DC on that very somber trip right now. We went out for dinner last night, and without explaining why, I told him he couldn't probably even skip any more and he showed me by skipping through the parking deck to the car. He turned around and defiantly said "Ha! I can too skip!" And we both had a good laugh... though I never got around to explaining this thread to him.

So if any other GP'ers were in DC last night and saw the crazed, grown-a$$ man skipping past you with an "I-told-you-so" attitude: that's the deal!

I have been told that I am a woman of many talents, but my secret desire is to be able to whistle with my fingers. I can skip, dance, hop, roll my tongue, imitate animals (and really loud birds), but I am incomplete without being able to put a few fingers in my mouth and WHISTLE.
Sigh.
Batya

The whole world must be skipping now.
Even Neil is trying it and doing a pretty good job.

Michelle & Steve a couple that skips together
____________________________, well anyway you know what I mean.

OK this is somewhat of a thread hijack. But just to stay on topic, yes I can skip. Always could. Just never found it necessary. lol Now...

Jan, please check the account you have associated with the GW. You've got mail! :o)

Karen

Yes, I can skip. Not very gracefully, but since when was skipping graceful on anyone more than eight years old?! I can wiggle my ears, roll my tongue, lift just one eyebrow (either one) and the Elvis sneer is second nature. I learned to whistle through my fingers..VERY loudly..as a teenager, as that was how my dad called my horse to the barn..and the stinker equine wouldn't come for me until I learned to whistle like my dad. Can't whistle like that anymore..store teeth ended it. It was very handy to call my kid home from anywhere in the neighborhood, because nobody else's mother whistled like that.

I'm 38 and still skip, play hopscotch, rollerblade, cross my eyes and can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I can't raise one eyebrow or roll my tongue though (my sister calls it "taco tongue").

While I was trying to find quotes for the week I came across a website devoted to skipping that I thought might be interesting. It seems like it is really is sweeping the nation...

Jen

Here is a link that might be useful: Iskip