By experience it's almost impossible to keep concentration on the road and mental maps and at the same time try to convert the chit chat of the wife into a white noise, by that we get lost so much, driving alone we get into the place straight and without any delay.
Yeah, yeah, it's always our fault.
FYI: My husband is much chattier than I am: usually about the news, politics, religion, the meaning of life, you name it. It's useless talking to me about sports. I tune him out subtly when I've had too much by listening to music or books on tape on my headphones, although it does annoy him. I pay for it, though, because he's constantly getting lost. (I guess he didn't get that gene! That, or he's punishing me for tuning him out.) I will grant, however, that he's an excellent, excellent driver, a far better driver than I am.
As for mechanical ability, he has none, and I mean NONE: zero, zilch, nada! He can't even hang pictures! His solution to everything is: hire someone. He tells me that's how capitalism works: you work hard at what you're good at, and you pay people to do what they're good at...
You can't hire someone to take care of your electronics, however, so I connect the cable, dvd player, tv, program his Iphone, set up and periodically clean up his laptop, have to be responsible for programming the underground sprinkler, the security system, you name it. Since you also can't hire someone to put together all the toys because he has no patience, I did that too. Thanks to my dad who was a contractor and could put his hands to anything (God, how I miss him), I can do some simple things that it makes no sense to hire out for, like changing a washer, pr putting in a new hinge or hose or whatever, so long as it isn't too complicated, do some touch up painting, etc. I refuse, however, to have anything to do with the cars. I'll be damned if I'll learn how to change oil, put in new batteries, etc., so he takes the cars to the garage.
Sometimes I do wonder if he's completely clueless about these things or if he's being furbo in this as in so much else, and it's just that he's too impatient and too lazy to do them himself, and figured out long ago that if he feigns incompetence I'll do it for him. My God, I still pack for him. I don't think he's ever packed his own suitcase!
Ah, the mysteries of marriage, even after so many years.
There, now that I've had my little rant, I feel better.
Seriously, while certain abilities may, on average, be more prevalent in one sex than another, I'm sure the data would plot such that there are of course plenty of people who don't conform to the average.