Your parlour trick

[JennJenn68]

I'm lucky--as a professional musician, I don't need a "parlour" trick; if there's a keyboard around, I can entertain that way.  If there isn't, I can sing.  (It helps to have almost absolute pitch.)

If I want to amuse people, I can sing almost everything by Tom Lehrer--and yes, I include the "Element Song"... but I prefer "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" or "The Masochism Tango".

[SCAJAfamily]

and "New Math"?  That takes talent!

[JennJenn68]

and "New Math"?  That takes talent!

Yeah... I don't have to understand it, I just have to have heard it.  (I guess that means that being the Human Echo is my parlour trick after all!)

[Bijou]

I can plunge a paper straw clean through a raw potato but you can't find paper straws any more, so.....
I can stick out my tongue and touch my nose.  Well, no one said I couldn't touch it with my index finger.
I can write upside down and backwards.  Or just backwards if you wish.  Or just upside down, if you prefer.
I can hide my eyes while you hold one of your arms up in the air with the other down by your side, then put both of your hands out and I can (uncover my eyes) and tell you which you held over your head.  (such a no brainer!   )
I can make an origami bird with flapping wings.
I can recite "Said the Rose", by George H Miles.  Well, not any more, but at one time.
http://www.mochinet.com/recitals/rose.html

[sevenday]

This one is a popular trick that I'm asked to do fairly often - "recite" the American Sign Language alphabet as quickly as I can.  It's not such a big deal for me since I'm deaf and have been signing since I was a wee one, but it impresses people... which is, I think, the whole point of a 'parlor trick.'

[CakeEater]

I can recite all 66 books of the Bible. Or flick a bunch of beer coasters off the edge of the table and catch them. As a PP said, depending on the audience.

[mmswm]

I can wiggle my ears.  One at a time.

[Softly Spoken]

When I was little (4 or 5) I was able to play a guitar - that I made by stringing rubber bands over an empty tissue box with a paper towel roll glued to one end! I was way more into entertaining when I was younger...

I am not so resourceful now, but if the right music is on I can lead people in dance. I also have taken several drama classes and still remember the monologues...one of them involves the character of a mental patient so if I did that one people might just mistake my performance for a conversation. lol

I also have a little 'x-ray vision trick' left over from massage school where I can look at someone and pretty accurately guess (without talking to them) where they may have pain or muscle tightness based on their posture - some people have been pretty impressed when I've "cold read" them (i.e. "So how long has your left foot been bothering you? Did it start before or after you hurt your right shoulder?")

[JenJay]

I can make the "water drip" sound with my mouth by flicking my cheek like Cameron does in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I can also do it by flicking under my jaw and "knocking" on my head. My kids think it's quite impressive. 

[NestHolder]

I would recite The Story of Matilda, who Told Lies and was Burned To Death.

Or whistle the national anthem through a Polo mint.

[mmswm]

If there are flies around I can make a fly "come back to life".  You see, when flies get submerged in water, they don't die.  They stop moving, but they're still very much alive.  Most people don't know this.  So, what I do is catch a fly and put it in a cup of water and let it get to the point where it stops moving.  Then I put the fly on the table and cover it with salt.  The salt dries out the water and the fly breaks through and flies away.  It's also a pretty neat lesson in the survival mechanisms of insects.

[Bijou]

If there are flies around I can make a fly "come back to life".  You see, when flies get submerged in water, they don't die.  They stop moving, but they're still very much alive.  Most people don't know this.  So, what I do is catch a fly and put it in a cup of water and let it get to the point where it stops moving.  Then I put the fly on the table and cover it with salt.  The salt dries out the water and the fly breaks through and flies away.  It's also a pretty neat lesson in the survival mechanisms of insects.

Just the catching a live fly part would impress me!

[Kimblee]

Umm... Not a whole lot actually. I can do origami pretty well, and I've cheered up kids by making a few frogs and letting them race them.

And I've also derailed uncomfortable conversations with my uncle by hopping a frog into his drink, appologizing profusely and starting to talk about how hard it is to aim these and "Oh wouldn't you like to show us the 'trick' AnnoyingKnowItAllUncle?" I cut him off three years ago so this isn't my trick anymore.

[Barb3000]

I can wiggle my left ear only. I have several long poems committed to memory also.

DH can tap his middle finger on his closed fist and make a loud sound (hands held together as if in prayer). After many years of being mystified, his adult son is now able to do it as well.

[GreenEyedHawk]

I can balance two toothpicks end-to-end on each other at a right angle.  My mom once told my cousins about it, and when I got home I was immediately greeted with my cousin Donald thrusting a pair of toothpicks at me and saying, "Do your trick!"

They have to be round toothpicks though, it's nigh impossible with flat ones.