Hobby
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In the 18th-century novel The Life and Opinions of
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the characters' hobby-horses, or particular
obsessions, are discussed in detail. Here, Uncle Toby's obsession with the
military leads to him and Trim—who gets caught up in Toby's enthusiasm—to begin
acting out military actions. Illustration byGeorge Cruikshank.
Retiree writing articles
for Wikipedia
A hobby is a regularly undertaken
activity that is done for pleasure, typically, during one's leisure time. Hobbies can include
the collection of themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic
pursuits, tinkeringplaying
sports, along with many more examples. By continually participating in a
particular hobby, one can acquire substantial skill and knowledge in that area.
Generally speaking, a
person who engages in an activity solely for fun is called an amateur (or hobbyist), as opposed
to a professional who engages in an activity
for remuneration, or
pay. An amateur may be as skilled as a professional, the principle difference
being that a professional receives compensation while an amateur does not.
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In the 13th century, the
term "hobyn" had the meaning of "small horse or pony". The
term "hobbyhorse"
was documented in a 1557 payment confirmation for a "Hobbyhorse" from
Reading, England.[1] The item, originally called
a "Tourney Horse", was made of a wooden or basketwork frame with an
artificial tail and head. Designed to mimic a realhorse, the hobbyhorse was used for religious
activities and civic occasions. By
1816 the derivative,
"hobby", was introduced into the vocabulary of an unknown number of
English people.[2] Over the course of
subsequent centuries, the term came to mean "recreational" or
"leisurely pursuit".
Hobbies are practiced
primarily for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward. In the 17th
century, the term was used in a pejorative sense due to the childish
origins of the term. Referring to the origin of the word; engaging in one's
hobby equated to the horse outfit from the term's formulation and was
considered a puerile overindulgence that would
yield no benefit.[3]
In the 21st century,
personal fulfillment is the aim of hobbies in First World Western nations and they
are widely considered to be helpful in such societies. Although, in the United
Kingdom (UK), the pejorative noun "anorak",
similar to the Japanese word "otaku",
has the meaning of being a geek or enthusiast), and is
often applied to people who obsessively pursue a particular hobby that others
consider boring.[4]
There have been instances
where hobbies have led to significant developments beyond the personal
fulfillment for those involved. Amateur astronomers have made significant
contributions to the profession, and hobbyists have made discoveries such as
finding an unknown celestial body or celestial event. In
the area ofcomputer
programming, the invention of the Linux operating system began as a
student's hobby. A substantial amount of early scientific research came from
the hobby activities of the wealthy.[citation needed]
Hobbies have also risen to
prominence after a period of relatively low interest. For example, a British conservationist was seen wearing field glasses at a London train station
in the 1930s and was consequently asked if he was going to the horse races.[citation needed] Whilst the general public
was not aware of nature observation which was formally conducted as field research,
during the 1930s, practitioners of the hobby went on to become the pioneers of the conservation movement that flourished in the UK
from 1965 onwards. Eventually, it became a global political
movement within a generation's time span.[citation needed]
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The hobby of collecting includes
seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and
maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some
collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all
countries of the world. Others focus on a subtopic within their area of
interest, perhaps 19th century postage stamps, milk bottle labels from Sussex, or Mongolian
harnesses and tack.
Stamp album used for
collecting stamps
Many coin collections are
also referred to as date sets, and may be stored in coin holders. The most
popular[citation needed] of the coin holders for
date sets are called coin albums.[5]
Specialized commercial
dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related
accessories, may have started as collectors themselves, eventually turning
their hobby into a profession.
One's finances may be a
restriction on the more extravagant hobbies. For example, someone who has the
financial means to collect stamps might not be able to collect sports-cars.
One alternative to
collecting physical objects is collecting experiences of a particular kind.
Examples include creating a list through observation or photography, train spotting, aircraft spotting, metrophiles, bus spotting, bird-watching, and
systematically visiting continents and countries to collect stamps in their
passports,or visiting various states, national parks, counties etc. The game I-Spy is related to collecting.
Outdoor pursuits are the group of activities which are dependent on the outdoors, These
hobbies include gardening,hill walking, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, climbing, caving, fishing, wildlife viewing and engaging in watersports andsnowsports.
Depending on an individuals
desired level of adrenaline, outdoors experiences are considered one type of
hobby. While many enjoy an adrenaline rush or just an escape from reality,
outdoor recreational activities can also be an extremely effective medium in
education and team building. It is
this ethos that has given rise to links with young people, such as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and PGL, and large numbers
of outdoor education centers that have been established as the stress on the
importance of a balanced and widespread education continues to grow.
As interest increases, so
has the desire for commercial outdoor pursuits. Outdoor recreational supply
stores have opened in large numbers and are thriving, as have outdoor pursuit journalism and magazines, both on
paper and the internet.
The increased accessibility
of outdoor pursuit resources has been the source of some negative publicity
over the years, with complaints of landscape destroying. An example is
the destruction of hillsides as footpaths are eroded due to an
excessive number of visitors.
Many hobbies involve
performances by the hobbyist, such as singing, acting, juggling, magic, dancing, playing amusical
instrument, martial arts and other performing arts.
Some hobbies result in an
end product. Examples of this would be woodworking, photography, moviemaking, jewelry making,
software projects such as Photoshopping and home music or video production, making bracelets, artistic projects such as drawing, painting,
etc., creating models out of cardstock or paper - called papercraft. Hobbies
also include higher-end projects like building or restoring a car, or building
a computer from scratch.
For computer savvy
do-it-yourself hobbyists, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining is also
popular. A CNC machine can be assembled and programmed to make different parts
from wood or metal.[6]
Making a replica of a real
object in a smaller scale goes back to prehistoric times with small clay
"dolls" and other children's toys having been found near known
populated areas. The Greeks, Romans, and Persians took the form to a greater
depth during their years of world domination, using scale replicas of enemy fortifications,
coastal defense lines, and other geographic fixtures to plan battles.
At the turn of the
Industrial Age and on through the 1920s, families could often afford things
such as electric trains, wind-up toys (typically boats or
cars) and the increasingly valuable tin toy soldiers.
Model engineering refers to building
functioning machinery in metal, such as internal
combustion motors and live steam models or locomotives. This
is a demanding hobby, requiring a multitude of large and expensive tools, such
as lathes and mills. This hobby
originated in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, later spreading and
flourishing in the mid-20th century. Due to the expense and space required, it
is becoming rare.
Scale modeling as we know
it today became popular shortly after World War II. Before
1946, children as well as adults were content in carving and shaping wooden
replicas from block wood kits, often depicting enemy aircraft to help with
identification in case of an invasion.
With the advent of modern
plastics, the amount of skill required to get the basic shape accurately shown
for any given subject was lessened, making it easier for people of all ages to
begin assembling replicas in varying scales. Superheroes, aeroplanes, boats,
cars, tanks, artillery, and even figures of soldiers became quite popular
subjects to build, paint and display. Although almost any subject can be found
in almost any scale, there are common scales for such miniatures which remain
constant today. The most popular[citation needed] scales for each subject are
(in order[citation needed] of popularity):
·
Cars (1:24, 1:25, 1:32)
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Railroads (1:87/1:76, 1:160, 1:220, plus ridable "backyard railroads",
1:8 and smaller.)
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Planes (1:48, 1:72, 1:32)
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Armor (1:35, 1:72: 1:48)
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Soldiers (1:32, 1:35, 1:48, 1:6)
Figures are probably the
most variable of all subjects in terms of scale and are often referred to as
their metric equivalent; for example, a 1:32 scale figure soldier is more
commonly described as "54mm". Likewise other popular sizes are 90mm,
120mm and almost every increment in between. An example of a diorama hobby is Warhammer 40,000,
from Games Workshop.
In addition to plastic
kits, resin has become a popular material for "short[clarification needed] run" productions. The
level of detail is often quite exquisite, and while more expensive than the
typical plastic soldier, is much easier to work with and modify, compared to White Metal or Pewter figures.
The advent of small and
cheap computers, sensors (often derived from the smartphone industry), and
radio equipment allowed hobbies such as Radio-controlled aircraft, cars, and toy robots to become more popular.
Scale modeling is no longer
a high growth industry as it was during the 1960s and 1970s, but there are
still thousands of retail shops selling kits, supplies, paints, and tools to
support new and established hobbyists. There are more companies producing
varieties of kits on subjects than ever before, and the levels of detail have
become unbelievably accurate with the advent of modern drafting and molding
equipment. Digitized CAD software have also
contributed to this allowing accuracy of up to 1/1000 of an inch.
With more costly kits
seeing an upward trend and youth entertainment moving more towards computers
and in-home video gaming, the average age of the avid hobbyist is now older
than ever before — with adults making up the vast majority of enthusiasts. At
the same time, there are probably more people building from kits now than ever,
and there is a large selection of supportive magazines such as Fine Scale Modeler, Military Miniatures in
Review (MMiR) and Tamiya Magazine from every era. There are
several modeling clubs in most cities, with the largest being International Plastic Modellers' Society (IPMS). IPMS has support
chapters and contests around the world.
Cooking requires applying heat to a
food which usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus changing
its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. It encompasses a
vast range of methods and tools, and may also be used to improve the digestibility of food.
It may require the selection, measurement and combining of ingredients in an
ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Constraints on
success include the ambient conditions, tools and the skill of the
individual cook.
The diversity of cooking
worldwide reveals the myriad of nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural,
agronomic, economic, cultural and religious considerations that have an impact
upon it.
Cooking properly, as
opposed to roasting, requires the boiling of water or oil in a receptacle, and
was practiced at least since the 10th millennium BC with the introduction of pottery. There is
archaeological evidence of roasted foodstuffs, both animal and vegetable, in
human (Homo
erectus) camp sites dating from the earliest known use of fire some 800,000 years ago.[citation needed]
Residential
gardening most often takes place in or about ones own
residence, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden
typically is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located on a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a patio or vivarium.
A gardener
Gardening also takes place
in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), amusement and theme parks, along
transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and hotels. In these
situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.
A variety of flowers and
vegetables in an indoor garden, 10 days after planting
Indoor gardening is growing houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated
into air conditioning or heating systems.
Water gardening is growing
plants that have adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered
a type of water garden. These all require special conditions and
considerations. A simple water garden may consist solely of a tub containing
the water and plant(s).
Container gardening is
concerned with growing plants in containers that are placed above the ground.
Reading, such as
reading books, ebooks, magazines, comics, or newspapers, along
with browsing the internet is a common hobby, and one
that can trace its origins back hundreds of years. A love of literature, later in
life, may be sparked by an interest in reading children's literature as a child.[7]
1. ^ The
Phrase Finder (1996-2012). "Hobby-horse". The Phrase
Finder. Gary Martin. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001-2012). "hobby". Online
Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
3. ^ Darryl
Lyman (5). "The Strange Origin of the Word
"Hobby"". Yahoo! Voices. Yahoo! Inc.
Retrieved 5 May 2012.
7. ^ Children's
reading Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863–1944). On the Art of Reading. 1920.
(retrieved21 April 2009)
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Hobbies
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