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Things a gentleman should be able to do
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19-12-2014 10:00am#1It seems to me that a lot of skills that would have been common in my father's or grandfather's times are no longer so prevalent amongst the current crop of gentleman. Everyday, simple skills that were necessary or simply advantageous to have in bygone days are falling by the wayside due to changing lifestyles and increasingly omnipresent technology. Why learn how to re-wire a plug when the building's handyman can do it for you; why bother acquiring the ability to tell North from South when an app will do it for you?
Of course I'm generalising here. Lots of gentlemen know lots of skills, but I d think that there has been some slippage. And I'm at the head of the pack when it comes to these un- or under-acquired skillsets. So I thought it might be an interesting project to assemble a list of the skills and abilities that a gentleman should have, and set about working on the list in the new year. Maybe acquire a new skill every two weeks or something.
And, not having acquired the skill of compiling exhaustively complete lists, I thought I'd turn to the upstanding denizens of The GC for inspiration. Put simply, can you add a few skills or abilities that you believe every man should have in an ideal society. Anything and everything can be included, but try to keep it somewhat serious!
I'll start with a few:
1. The ability to wire a plug
2. The ability to sew a button onto a shirt/ simple darning
3. The ability to chart a course using the sun or stars or other natural methods
4. The ability to change a tyre on a car
And so on and so forth...
(this is where you lot come in!
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Shave with a cut-throat razor
Tie a double windsor
Tie a bow tie
I must shamefully say that I cannot do any of the above
For my own contribution I will add:
* Mend a puncture on a bicycle.
* Set a nice fire (coal or wood).
* Open a metal topped bottle without the need for a bottleopener.0 -
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Surely a gentleman would have servants to do all of that for him?It seems to me that a lot of skills that would have been common in my father's or grandfather's times are no longer so prevalent amongst the current crop of gentleman. Everyday, simple skills that were necessary or simply advantageous to have in bygone days are falling by the wayside due to changing lifestyles and increasingly omnipresent technology. Why learn how to re-wire a plug when the building's handyman can do it for you; why bother acquiring the ability to tell North from South when an app will do it for you?
Of course I'm generalising here. Lots of gentlemen know lots of skills, but I d think that there has been some slippage. And I'm at the head of the pack when it comes to these un- or under-acquired skillsets. So I thought it might be an interesting project to assemble a list of the skills and abilities that a gentleman should have, and set about working on the list in the new year. Maybe acquire a new skill every two weeks or something.
And, not having acquired the skill of compiling exhaustively complete lists, I thought I'd turn to the upstanding denizens of The GC for inspiration. Put simply, can you add a few skills or abilities that you believe every man should have in an ideal society. Anything and everything can be included, but try to keep it somewhat serious!
I'll start with a few:
1. The ability to wire a plug
2. The ability to sew a button onto a shirt/ simple darning
3. The ability to chart a course using the sun or stars or other natural methods
4. The ability to change a tyre on a car
And so on and so forth...
(this is where you lot come in!)0 -
I took this thread to something of an extreme myself some years ago. I have a lot of land around my house due to a fortunate purchase and I decided I would not just rectify my lack of plug wiring skills but my lack of any skills. I became the ultimate DIY junkie.
To the point I ended up building a house. Foundations - cellar - walls - wiring - plumbing - insulation - the lot. It it not a huge affair. Its very open plan - rugged - but high tech in a few ways too. Bathroom - bedroom - open plan kitchen/living/eating area. So I guess these days I am well able to wire a plug and work out how to replace the washers on some taps
I do not see anything as being pretty gentlemanly per se however. My daugther is 4 and I have already thought her how to wire a plug - do fuses - and a few other tricks with hammers and screw drivers. Though she knows well also never to engage in any of this unsupervised. She will be every bit as capable as any of your or my grandparents by the time she is 12.
I therefore struggle with defining the word "Gentleman" which is why I am on this area of the forum - hoping I will work out a definition that fits. I can not think of anything that fits that word for me that does not equally apply to women. Someday I might 0 -
I am proud to say, all of the above my ten year old can do..
mostly learned through scouts, he can wire a plug, tell north from south, know a fair few trees, can change a fuse in a plug, alot from scouts and in fact I learned the same skills through girl guides.
I new generation of gentlemen on their way. 0 -
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J Mysterio wrote: »lol, yeah... Sure.
Yip. She also thought me recently how to do loom bands. Pretty dextrous stuff it is too - took me multiple(!) tries to get it right too.
Kids are far more capable at things than we give them credit for and when you sit them down and show them how to do things that require simple dexterity and repetitive action - they are insanely good at it. And wiring a plug when you think about it - is not the hardest thing in the world by far. Id love to know which step in the process your skeptical reaction is focused on
They will surprise you with their skills - if you let them. They can also sit and mindlessly watch peppa pig for hours if you let them do that too
Though I love how your skepticism leapt first to a 4 year old wiring a plug and not a 30 year old learning masonry plumbing and electronics to the degree he built his own houseI am proud to say, all of the above my ten year old can do..
mostly learned through scouts, he can wire a plug, tell north from south, know a fair few trees, can change a fuse in a plug, alot from scouts and in fact I learned the same skills through girl guides.
I new generation of gentlemen on their way.
Its one of the great things about having kids. You get to relearn this stuff by teaching it to them. Or learning it yourself to teach to them. In fact I have read a few times that the BEST way to learn anything is to spend the time while learning it - working out how you will teach it to someone else. Rather than absorb facts and skills therefore - you really engage with the fact and skills in your planning of how to re transmit them to the next person.0 -
I am proud to say, all of the above my ten year old can do..
mostly learned through scouts, he can wire a plug, tell north from south, know a fair few trees, can change a fuse in a plug, alot from scouts and in fact I learned the same skills through girl guides.
I new generation of gentlemen on their way.
Must be a scout thing........
I'm still tying bowlines, sheep shanks etc 30 years after I left!!
So to add I think a gentleman should be able to tie the following knots......- The reef knot - always useful along with the sheepshank
- the bowline - for tying up one's yacht (extra bonus points for being able to it one handed!!) or the round turn and two (or more) half hitches
- The highway man's hitch - for tying up your horse
- How to splice a rope and to coil unattached rope neatly and properly using a gasket type coil.
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Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,483 CMod ✭✭✭✭
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Deleted User wrote: »I took this thread to something of an extreme myself some years ago. I have a lot of land around my house due to a fortunate purchase and I decided I would not just rectify my lack of plug wiring skills but my lack of any skills. I became the ultimate DIY junkie.
To the point I ended up building a house. Foundations - cellar - walls - wiring - plumbing - insulation - the lot. It it not a huge affair. Its very open plan - rugged - but high tech in a few ways too. Bathroom - bedroom - open plan kitchen/living/eating area. So I guess these days I am well able to wire a plug and work out how to replace the washers on some taps
Do you mind if I ask how you accomplished that, T? Books, help from neightbours or friends, Youtube videos, etc? That's quite an achievement.We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.
H. H. Asquith
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,093 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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Very much so TM. I was lucky in some ways in that my dad was born before 1920 and was an engineer, so I grew up with that fix it if you can mentality.The Mustard wrote: »Given the specialization of jobs that there is today, I reckon that a lot of basic skills are just not prevalent any more.
Yep and I've seen that up close. A few years back I was going out with someone who was a bit younger than me. Anyhoo, she reckoned her car needed a service and her garage was charging like a wounded bull for the privilege(IMHO). So I said feck that, I'll service your car and show you how for future reference. So I bought the oil, filters, brake pads etc and went ahead, with the help of the interwebs for her particular model. Anyway, some of her male mates were there on the day and they were self describing petrolheads and they were watching me do the service like I was practicing some arcane alchemy. These days with the interwebs it's actually easier to do this stuff, yet so few do. Oh and she picked it up first time and did her own servicing afterwards.If you go back to the 1950s, I understand that people were carrying out their own auto repairs. Granted, the electronics in today's motors makes self repair a tougher task now but it just isn't done to the same extent at all anymore as far as I can see.
I can actually do that TM. Oh and knock up stone tools(Neandertal stylee) in a pinch. If it was 80,000 years ago I'd be in the back of the cave with the slow kids, but I can actually do it after a fashion.If I had to pick a skill I would choose starting a fire without a lighter or matches.
Oh god no SD. Unless you have a cardiologist and you want to test the local emergency services response time...Sephiroth_dude wrote: »Squat, deadlift, rows and run for 30 minutes straight.
Check.Change a tyre
Depending entirely on circumstances, but yep.Not be afraid to cry or show emotion
I can do a couple... See above.Be able to do chin up/pull ups
Yep, though actually catching the fish in the first place is the real trick.Gut a fish
I've shaved with an obsidian blade. Oh yes. Full caveman here.Shave with a knife Though I would add, the ability to actually grow a beard, that wasn't a few sparse hairs on the upper lip and some bum fluff below the chin line. There's a reason why "neckbeard" is a pejorative term. OK if you're 17, but if you're 27, get thee to an endocrinologist and fast. Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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