Development into other ventures

Hobby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time. Examples of hobbies include collecting, creative and artistic pursuits, making, tinkering, sports and adult education. Engaging in a hobby can lead to acquiring substantial skill, knowledge and experience. People also enjoy participating in competitive hobbies such as athletics, hockey, curling, golf, bowling and tennis.

Generally speaking, the person who engages in an activity for fun, not remuneration, is called an amateur (or hobbyist), as distinct from a professional.

Etymology

The term "hobbyhorse" has been found in documented form in a 1557 payment confirmation for a "Hobby~horse" from Reading, England.^[1] The item, originally called a "Tourney Horse", was made of a wooden or basketwork frame and was designed to mimic a real horse, with a fake tail and head, for church and civic occasions. In the 13th century, the term "hobyn" was used, meaning "small horse or pony", and by 1816 the derivative, "hobby", had been introduced into the vocabulary of an unknown number of English people.^[2] Over the course of subsequent centuries, the term persisted and developed into its 21st century meaning of "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. That is, to engage 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 such as England and they are widely considered as helpful in such societies. Although, in the United Kingdom (UK), the pejorative noun "anorak" (similar to the Japanese "otaku", meaning a geek or enthusiast) is often applied to people who obsessively pursue a particular hobby that is otherwise considered boring.^[4]

Development into other ventures

There have been instances where hobbies have led to significant developments beyond personal fulfillment for those involved. Amateur astronomers have made significant contributions to the profession and hobbyists have made discoveries such as a celestial body or celestial event. In the area of computer programming, the invention of the Linux operating system began as a student's hobby. Furthermore, a substantial amount of early scientific research effectively came from the hobby activities of the wealthy.

Hobbies have also risen to prominence after a period of relatively low interest in them. 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. Whilst the general public was not aware of nature observation (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; a movement that eventually became a global political movement within a generation's timespan.^{[ citation needed ]}

Types

Collecting

The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. These collections of things are often highly organized, carefully cataloged, and attractively displayed. Since collecting depends on the interests of the individual collector, it may deal with almost any subject. The depth and breadth of the collection may also vary. Some collectors choose to focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interest. There are also individuals, who take up collection of coins as their hobby; in both the cases the people try to hold on to the identities. Some collections are capable of being completed, at least to the extent of owning one sample of each possible item in the collection. Collectors who specifically try to assemble complete collections in this way are sometimes called "completitionsts." Upon completing, they may stop collecting, expand the collection to include related items, or begin an entirely new collection. Many completionists are also referred to as date sets, and can be stored in a number of coin holders. The most popular of the coin holders for date sets are coin albums

Specialized commercial dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related accessories started as collectors themselves, then turned their hobby into a profession.

Finance may be a restriction on 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 collecting through observation or photography, train spotting, aircraft spotting, metrophiles, bus spotting, bird-watching, and systematically visiting continents, countries (and collecting stamps in passports), states, national parks, counties etc. A related game is I-Spy.

Games

A game as a hobby is a structured or semi-structured recreational activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment (although sometimes for physical or vocational training). A goal that the players try to reach and a set of rules concerning what the players can or cannot do create the challenge and structure in a game, and are thus central to its definition. Known to have been played as far back as prehistoric times, games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration. Because a wide variety of activities are enjoyable, numerous types of games have developed. What creates an enjoyable game varies from one individual to the next. Age, understanding (of the game), ability, intelligence level, and personality are factors that determine what games a person enjoys. Depending on these factors, people vary the number and complexity of objectives, rules, challenges, and participants to increase their enjoyment. Games generally involve mental and/or physical stimulation. Many games help develop practical skills and serve as exercise or perform an educational, simulational or psychological role.

Many children like to play outdoor games that involve physical activity such as cops and robbers and hide and go seek. Adults may play games, such as in the form of card games, board games, and in recent times, video games. Some additional games that adults would play are darts and dice games.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04