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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be fascinated by "hobbies"

213 replies

SmileEachDay · 22/02/2017 22:07

"I/DH/MIL have "a hobby" which takes a couple of hours/3 nights a week/the whole of April"

What ARE these hobbies? And why so mysterious?

OP posts:

Jaynebxl · 23/02/2017 04:51

The thing is that some of us don't call them hobbies.

This! Some say hobby, I say lifestyle choice.

barefootinkitchen · 23/02/2017 04:54

I had no hobbies when I was young as my free time was spent socialising with friends, and recovering from hangovers.
When I moved to cities where I didn't know people I started to get hobbies and then after having a child it was a great reason to get time alone.
Dance classes, yoga, crafting, Drama, Language exchanges, hiking.

blueskyinmarch · 23/02/2017 05:26

Ugh. Oh well I am sure it will be fine. Think we might be a little damp tonight!

blueskyinmarch · 23/02/2017 05:37

Sorry about that message. My DH text me to tell me it was snowing and I thought I had text him back! Turns out I had posted here instead. He is up and off early to do his very outing hobby. He is away to the gym!

NC1234 · 23/02/2017 06:31

We have a joint hobby. We're swingers, so my evenings are spend arranging threesums or more.

Isn't the ability to name change brilliant?

piginboots · 23/02/2017 06:32

blueskyinmarch I agree - bit damp for dogging tonight.

bookworm14 · 23/02/2017 06:36

I do choral singing. Wouldn't generally describe it as a hobby though - agree there is something a bit irritating about the word.

OldBooks · 23/02/2017 06:40

Surely it is just a matter of terminology/language changing? Hobby is defined as "an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation" so technically it fits a lot of these activities but has connotations of a niche activity and seems to be felt to be a childish or outdated term.

We have just changed our thinking eg

Playing sports or going to the gym is known as 'exercise' or 'keeping fit' or 'having a workout' etc.

Following sports or doing crafts etc are pastimes or leisure activities

Things like video games, mucking about online are equivalent to watching tv all evening, a relaxing leisure activity

MaisyPops · 23/02/2017 06:49

Never notived or thought about this.
I dont think people think their interests are unique, more that if they've mentioned their location and ages of children in other threads then it couls be possible to identify them. I can see if youve posted personal dilemnas then you'd probably not want people to be able to work out who you are.

I've worked out who somebody is on a different forum from one personal post.

Binkybix · 23/02/2017 07:00

outing but if you mention you're an underwater basket weaver

Nice Jilly Cooper reference! I read it at College.

I don't have any hobbies. DH claims that buying new tech is one

TroysMammy · 23/02/2017 07:05

Recently I heard of a hobby where people go into derelict buildings of interest and take photos. I think it's called trespassing.

Iamastonished · 23/02/2017 07:10

"I like people to be passionate about stuff (and well toned)"

I like lots of things and have lots of interests, but I wouldn't say that I am passionate about anything. I find people who are passionate about their hobbies a little boring. DD has a friend who is horse mad. She is a nice girl, but all she talks about is horses - something that DD and I are just not interested in. This girl is so consumed by her passion for horses that she is unable to talk about anything else, and even her best friends at college get bored with all the horse talk.

"My hobbies have me out of the house 3 evenings this week and for about 4 hours each weekend day."

I really wouldn't want to give anything this level of commitment for any extended length of time. I go to the gym 2 or 3 times a week, but I don't class it as a hobby. I just need to stay fit.

SoupDragon · 23/02/2017 07:18

Recently I heard of a hobby where people go into derelict buildings of interest and take photos. I think it's called trespassing.

The forums that have the photos etc can be fascinating though.

OldBooks · 23/02/2017 07:23

I have been overthinking this.

I suspect that the word and the concept arose alongside the middle classes & the increase of free time. People wouldn't have had a hobby as they would have been too busy working, and things like knitting were essential household management skills. With the rise of labour saving devices etc people suddenly have things like weekends and time to fill. And thus the concept of doing something for no reason other than your enjoyment, something to fill your time, became something that more people could do (as opposed to the very rich).

Then we have the rise of TV and internet which reframes how people think of their evenings. Technically watching tv is a hobby in that it is a leisure activity that does not contribute to work. But it seems more passive - a hobby has the implication of doing something. So the word and its connotations changed over time and most of us take our leisure time for granted and don't think of the things we do in that time as hobbies.

Lessthanaballpark · 23/02/2017 07:23

I have too many hobbies and have a finely tuned schedule to make sure I fit them all in. They are always changing though that's the problem and what consumes me one month doesn't interest me the next.

It's very frustrating.

Huldra · 23/02/2017 07:26

Must admit the word Hobby irritates me for no good reason, there's something twee about it. I get flash backs to being 10 and adults asking me what hobbies I had. They always seemed disappointed that I didn't say knitting or stamp collecting.

I get why people use the word here, it could mean anything that takes up lots of time outside of work. Pottery, martial arts, campaigning for the Monster Raving Looney Party. It's easy to be quite identifying with only a few details.

ForalltheSaints · 23/02/2017 07:31

I thought nowadays we called them interests, so for example my love of Impressionist painting and visits to museums and art galleries to see such artworks would be termed an interest

WhatIsWrongWithMePlease · 23/02/2017 07:46

I'm under a name change at the moment so I don't mind saying that my DHs hobby is.... Er.... Warhammer. I used to think it was really weird that a grown man would put together plastic figures and paint them for fun, but if that's what makes him happy, it's not hurting anyone.

I'm much cooler (joke!) and I love going to gym classes and running. Not to lose weight, just for fun.

WhatIsWrongWithMePlease · 23/02/2017 07:48

Oh and if Netflix counts as a hobby then I'm definitely commited to that hobby too.

HerOtherHalf · 23/02/2017 07:57

Maybe a hobby is just a sport they're shit at.

TattooedLady · 23/02/2017 08:00

I do photography as a hobby. I picked it up a couple of years ago to give me something else to do, talk about and think about besides children. I'm lazy though and don't go out very often; instead I set up a kind of studio in the dining room and take pics of flowers or other still life set-ups. That doesn't take very long but I spend hours editing them. Almost every week I go to a camera club and occasionally enter their competitions never win any of them mind but that's about as far as I go. I sometimes use the word 'hobby' simply because I know that it annoys others!

TheNaze73 · 23/02/2017 08:05

I normally think it's a niche form of dogging, like Seagulling...

Makes me laugh when they say it's too identifying, we all do it

ElspethFlashman · 23/02/2017 08:07

What I find wierd is that despite the word hobby never really being used in RL, you get people here going "first time poster - DH has his hobby 7 days a week - AIBU?"

TwatteryFlowers · 23/02/2017 08:07

Recently I heard of a hobby where people go into derelict buildings of interest and take photos. I think it's called trespassing.

Urban exploration or urbex. I love looking at those photos - I think it's fascinating. Some buildings that just look like crumbling ruins can hold so much history and beauty. The photographers do sometimes trespass but many of them get permission from the landowners and go as an arranged group.

BabyHamster · 23/02/2017 08:18

When I see "hobby" on here I usually assume it's cycling or football if it's a man, and choir or am dram if it's a woman. Terribly sexist of me I know

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