To wonder what on earth all these myserious hobbies on MN are?

[Abbinob]

I see so many posts with things like "when i'm doing my hobby" "DH spends 2 hours a week doing his hobby" "a friend from my hobby"

WHAT ARE ALL THESE HOBBIES?

I've never heard anyone say this in RL
"so what you doing tonight?"
"oh you know, i'm going to do my hobby"

It makes me all nosey and agitated trying to work out what these hobbies are

DP's Hobby (with a capital H, as opposed to a lowercase hobby which is things like singing or drawing or whatever) is medieval battle re-enactment. And inevitably, DD and I get dragged in.

DD looks fab in her little squire's costume. Thus far I've managed to avoid wearing a velvet dress and sitting in the tent embroidering, which is all that the women are allowed to do, by being their official photographer instead. Therefore photography is my Hobby

Can you tell I'm not crazy about his Hobby?

I have a growing list of hobbies i am going to do once the dc are at school. It includes oil painting, pottery, cake decoration, stained glass, crochet, dress making, curtain making...I find myself regularly getting the brochure from the local adult centre and reading the courses and getting very excited at all the things i'm going to do it 6 years time. (sometimes it's the only thing that stops me losing it. My mantra is 'this is not forever, one day i will be making sugar paste flowers')

So do I whats
Working, supporting a spouse who works longer, irregular hours, being a parent, having to care for elderly relatives, commuting, having childcare costs.
These things add up to it being quite a lean patch on disposable income and time.

I can't wait for this phase to be over..... I suppose it's a pity I don't fancy costumed reenactments en famille.
I don't count 'swimming as a family' as a hobby either, as afterwards the dcs are in the change room with me... The gents change room is tiny, and the pool doesn't have a family room. Why, oh why?

That koala is cute pax.
Eh up, Your DH's not a tree hugger, is he MrsK?

They don't have to cost money though Totally I run (passionately I may add!) and it doesn't cost a bean. Well a tenner a year to be a member of the running club and the odd pair of new trainers. There are loads of things that you can do for free.

I agree that the word 'hobby' does seem to be associated with formal classes or set periods of time to do an activity. I have horses too and would never regard them as a hobby, they are a passion I suppose, an interest? Definitely a way of life.

Interesting discussion.

I have 1 hobby which you could officially call a hobby .

I never refer to it in rl as a hobby though

I would on here to be purposely vague

I've never had a hobby. Ever. I remember buying magazines with quizzes in them as a child and there was always some sort of question about your favourite hobby which I could never answer because I didn't really have one... I liked to write and I did go to drama classes as a child but I've never been into sport or really the performing arts since then. It throws me completely when people ask that. I watch a lot of films and I like to read if that counts? .

Up until I started my "official hobby that I will never in rl actually call a hobby but will do so to be vague on here" I never had adult hobbys either other than going to the pub ha

Reading is good ! Id count that too actually

Waterfall, i don't really agree with the cost thing. Yes there are things you can do for free, but if you don't enjoy them you wouldn't choose them as your hobby and they could never become a pleasant thing to do for you (which is the whole point of a hobby really). I can't think of one hobby i could take up that i would remotely enjoy that would be free or at least very cheap.

Surely it depends on what you are drawn to though? My favourite pastimes, maybe yet another different description, are walking, running, yoga and horses. Only the last one costs any considerable amount of money.

I think of "hobby" as a rather old-fashioned sounding word so it seems to fit best with old-fashioned activities - stamp collecting, making model ships, trainspotting, that sort of thing. I probably wouldn't say that DS2's hobby is playing with his Xbox even though it basically fills that function in his life. Nor would I usually call something sporty or outdoorsy a hobby, although I probably could - unless I was deliberately trying to be unspecific!

Agree that something sporty can't really be classified as a hobby, it is an activity.

Yes that's my point really water, if you aren't drawn to any of the cheap ones then people saying there are loads of hobbies that costs nothing is pretty meaningless. Yes, it's technically true, but why would you spend your time doing something you don't enjoy just because it's free/cheap. Surely you should enjoy your hobby.

I do Pilates but part of the enjoyment for me is going to a class in the peace and quiet with a good teacher. This however costs me about £15 for an hour twice a week. (£4 for each dc to go to the crèche and £7 for the class). So £30 a week which for 2 hours a lot of people can't afford. Same as the evening classes in arts and crafts I would love to do (even if dh did get home before 6.30 which he doesn't) they cost £120 for 10 weekly sessions of 2 hours. We are lucky in that we could afford it, but with that plus materials, many couldn't.

I write fiction as a hobby and have friends through that. Hubbys hobby was game workshop games but now plays a war game with his little men. He also plays multiplayer games on PCs.