"Where did you acquire that esoteric skill, anyway?"

The idea is to allow today's millions of Web developers to write voice applications without having to master new programming languages or other esoteric skills.

But as with any attempt to teach the often esoteric skills of management, tangible results of the programs can be hard to pinpoint.

Because the powder isn't skied out in hours, it's a great place to learn the esoteric skills of that subtle discipline.

Among some of the more esoteric skills acquired were some relating to either chemistry or medicine: Otto is at home with poisons.

With Yardley's esoteric skills in very low demand, he took up writing about his experiences in codebreaking to support his family.

Americans think of mathematics as some esoteric skill like perfect pitch that some people have and others do not.

He was also training his more "esoteric" skills, but once again, that was something he couldn't talk to his parents about.

Mr. Agrawal sees adding more esoteric skills to the group, like academic research.

Beyond that, she has democratized the esoteric skill of marble carving by applying it to mundane apparel like a motorcyclist's jacket and a baseball uniform.