This is one of those interview sort of things that you couldn't defend in front of a congressional sub-committee, but is true regardless.
I hate syntax. I can *never* remember different syntax between, for instance, C# and T-SQL. Just can't do it. To this day, knowing how to do 'group by order by' trips me up.
Call me a moron.
But, as a sort of leading indicator, I can watch someone type into their IDE of choice and tell if they are good.
Best DBA I've ever worked with? The backspace was invented for him, since he could never get it right the first time.