I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.
Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.
edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.
I always think it’s weird when I run into people that can’t whistle or make a horn sound blowing a blade of grass. I’m not even talking like those ear-piercing 2-fingers-in-mouth whistles, just regular Andy Griffith style.
Definitely understand there are many whistling taboos(as there should be, Russia) and some bored rural-ness that factor in.
I’ve never been able to whistle and I’m so sad about it. I can do the grass trick though, and I can also make a whistle/scream sound using an acorn cup.
Mr Rogers was unable to whistle, so you’re in very good company!
Oak my god, I’ve never heard of the acorn trick! To the rabbit-hole!
Have at it!
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I can whistle normally, but can’t do the two fingers in the mouth nor can I properly do the blade of grass trick. Wish I could though
I couldn’t whistle until I had dental surgery and realized it moved my teeth so much I could finally whistle. So I was like 20 the first time I ever whistled.
Could whistle normally as long as I can remember. Tried forever to learn the two finger loud whistles as a kid and never could make a sound but still tried. I still recall when I was around 13 yo reading Goosebumps and randomly did the gesture when suddenly I made the first successfull attempt. I literally turned to the mirror on the side becuase of the surprise and had that Shaq face on Hot Ones. After practicing for a while I discovered that, while you can whistle EXTREMELY loudly this way, you legit hurt your own eardrums the most. Basically kamikaze whistling. I don’t use it that often because of it.
The third way of whsitling is by blowing through your palms which makes that owl-like howl. You can basically do the first part of the song in Once Upon a Time in the West this way.
Also, snapping your fingers in a very “snappy” loud and deep kinda way.
I could never do the two finger whistle and still can’t. Never tried whistling through my hands before.
But now that I’ve had multiple dental surgeries I have to be careful when I speak because sometimes I get the siblin s sound now as an adult and if I do it too hard it’s like a high pitched squeal.
I could never get a whistle when exhaling no matter what I tried. It takes no effort for me to whistle while inhaling though, but the range and volume are limited this way.