Can Anyone Really Do This?

I can not ,and have often wondered why they do this!

That is a challenge. I said them but had to sort of pause to think closely.

I can't say the alphabet backwards no matter how sober I am. I'm lucky if I can remember it frontwards.

No way can I say it backwards even with many pauses. I can't walk a straight line to save my life either.

i know, those test are ridiculous

Hell I cant say it forwards without singing it!

same here

I can say it backwards with hesitation. I had that asked to me on memory tests that I did recently; I managed to prove that I wasn't facing early dementia as a result.

that's GREAT!

Its crazy that they do it , If I am drunk I d be likely if I can do the abc frontwards let alone backwards.....

Why do cops ask ppl to do this?

I don't know. I've never had that experience. Have you? lol

nope, i've been a relatively good girl but i know a few ppl who've gone through this

I can't do it. I don't why the cops ask people to do that when they can't.

Forget the alphabet! When was the last time you tried to take 10 steps "heel to toe" without losing your balance, stone cold sober!

GREAT point!

I printed it out and couldn't do it reading it off the paper.

yes deb, it's the silliest thing!

I can do it if the cop can.

yeah, that's what yeti (aaron) says

I did not know thay did this.

I can do it quickly, but only because my first grade teacher told us to learn the alphabet "backward and forward". I took her words literally and memorized it both ways. It is not a marketable skill, but it came in handy when I was filing.

I suppose this is a measure of a person's ability to think clearly. If I ever take up drinking, I'll be well prepared.

that's cute!!! yeah! those cops aren't gonna get u for this one!

No, just partially.
BUT, I can do trigonometry in my head, does that count?

for u it does

That was a pun my dear....

No, I can't. I guess they ask people to do that to see if they are drunk?

yeah, but even sober ppl can't do it

yes that is extremely dumb to ask people to do this ....some deslexsic people can do it but it doesn't mean they should be driving a car ........ this is along the same lines , my mother had a stroke and recovered a small amount in the six weeks of recovery time (when disability runs out) , so for the nerologist to release her back to work the test she had to do was stand with her arms out to the side and touch her nose with both hands ......he seriously was going to release her back to work after that test !!!!!!!!!! she was a nurse who handled medicines, she had a hard time with writing and speech , so taking drs orders over the phone would have been impossible , among other important things....crazy huh

OMG!!!!! What the freaking hell would he do that to her! I just don't get ppl sometimes, it goes beyond being a doctor, it's about being a person and knowing the problems others will face based on your decisions.

That sucks A**

well she got him back ...because she knew her hospital would not take her back , (they told her that), she said to the dr." if I can work as a nurse, you can hire me ok" , he said no and signed the paper for disability to be extended.

Years ago my husband was working night shift and he got off at 3am. He was almost home when a cop pulled him over and asked him all kinds of questions and wanted my husband to say the alphabet backwards. My husband told me that he laughed and told the cop, you first. The cop let him go. We both tried it later, but had to pause about half way through.

good for your hubby!

I got pulled over on suspicion of DUI, he had me do the walk at rush hour. He also had me do the alphabet from the letter "P". If I had to do it backwards, I would have ended up with a DUI.

that still sucks

I'd be in deep doo doo if a cop asked me to do this. I might pull it off, but it would certainly take a lot of time.

After reading this, I tried three times. No, I can not do it. Why would anyone be expected to be able to do this foolish thing?

i agree!

I can do it; it's something my family teaches all the kids, generation after generation. It's kind of like a parlor game for us.

Just sing it to the same tune as regular ABC's.

carrie, you always amaze me w/ different aspect of your life. It's like a series and i get tidbits here and there

Believe it or not, I was once pulled over just about 2 blocks from where I lived, and, although I had a mild to moderate 'buzz on' I amazed myself by doing it. I didn't just rattle it off, but I didn't pause significantly either.
I'm not certain that I could do it again, but I have curtailed certain bad habits that I once had.

The most fun I ever had with a cop was on the Memorial Day weekend in 2008.
I picked up a friend at the Oakland airport and drove her to San Anselmo, In the middle of San Rafael was a 'sobriety checkpoint'.
The two cars in front of me got waved through.
The cop indicated for me to pull over to the side.
About 3 hours earlier I had smoked some really good weed and had ONE bottle of beer.
The beer had pretty much worn off by then but I still was somewhat stoned.
The officer asked me if I had had anything to drink. I told him "yes, I had one beer about 3 hours ago". He then proceeded to give me the "follow my finger with your eyes, but don't turn your head test".
Apparently I did not pass this, so he said he was going to give me a breath test.
I said "fine". He then asked me what he thought the results would be. I told him pointedly "it will show that I haven't been f*cking drinking officer".
He had me blow into the tube. A minute or two later he returned. His demeanor was that of a person who seemed very disappointed. He said, "You can go now".
I said, "Not so fast. What did the machine's readout say?"
He said sheepishly "Zero point zero zero".
I smiled and said "What did I f*cking tell you?" and drove off chuckling to myself.

I LOVE THAT!!!! Good for you! the MAN's always ruining someone's good time!

Nope.

zyxwvutsrqponmlkj............... :)
They do it for a trick question, lol!

LOL

I can do it, but I'm weird like that, and can remember what's on either side of anything that I look at a lot. My son is working on writing the alphabet now, so I'm looking at the alphabet chart a lot again these days and can do it backward just as fast as forward. :)

WOW!!! congrats

I can't without thinking about it really hard. My kid can. He has also memorized the numerical position of each letter of the alphabet. You can give him a word, and he will analyze what the numerical positions of the letters of that word add up to, what letter it represents and how many times he had to go through the alphabet to get to that letter again. It's pretty sick.

WOW!!!!!!!! that blew me away! AMAZING SKILL! how old is he?

He's 24 now, he started this when he was in middle school, 6th grade?

This is the same kid who used to steal my college textbooks to do the assignments because he thought it was fun. If it weren't for physical resemblance, I'd swear he's an alien.

Gornak from planet OXYLOTL!!!!
Hes been missing for 437,665,618 years!

Isn't that Stephen Colbert's financial adviser?

LMAO!!!!!!!!!

nope no way, maybe zyx lol :)

Like most people, I can stumble my way through it. I agree ... it's a silly question to ask of anyone ~ drunk or sober!

I don't remember why I learned to do that, but at one time I could rattle it off as fast as forward. Naturally, when I read your post I had to try it and hesitated twice. Gettin' old I guess.

it's still amazing you could do it, i can't at all

In first grade the teacher made us learn the alphabet backwards. I could do it for at least a month or two after first grade. :)

No,I can't say the alphabet backwards no matter how sober I am!!!!!!

ME NEITHER

It is very hard... but if you do it slow enough it is possible... lol