anorak [ˈænəˌræk] Informal a socially inept person with a hobby considered by most people to be boring.
I’ll admit it, I’m getting a bit obsessed with this whole hobby thing – in fact I think I am becoming a hobbying anorak. If I’m not quizzing people about what their hobbies are, I’m proudly wielding a (quite frankly underwhelming) photo of some knitting to anyone who looks like they’re conscious. Luckily, everyone’s humoring me right now, but I guess I might start to wear thin quite quickly.
And then the dangerous thing started. I started to think. When I was a kid I had hundreds of hobbies. It was almost a full time job, and for the parents ferrying me too and fro, am guessing it was a total pain in the ass. Why do kids have loads of interests, and by the time they become adults, they have to put boring non-hobby crap on the CV like ‘watching tv’, ‘cooking’ and ‘reading’? < these are not hobbies, they are things everyone does – like breathing or going shopping to Tesco. Oh, I go to the supermarket regularly, better put it down in my list of pastimes. Clearly at some point time & practicality manage to get a foothold and drag us down from the world of infinite possibility – well I say boo to that. I’m starting a one woman revolution.
And another thing (at this point I’m starting to slur and need another swig from the Lambrini bottle). I have noticed that most hobbies I’ve come across seem to be quite solitary activities. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I’m just saying – it’s quite surprising. I think my dream hobby will involve other people, who are just as boring about the amazing world of ***** as me. You have been warned.
And then there was this article from the Guardian suggesting that hobbies are a tell of the socially mobile. Apparently working class people don’t have the imagination or motivation to have a pastime*. Well, let’s see if me having a hobby makes me posher than the Queen then – and I know I’m pretty damn classy already.
Coming along nicely
In other news – here’s the aforementioned knitting progress update. The correct response is ‘wow, that’s great’. If you want to take it further, you can say I’m a natural, or even, and it’s a bit embarrassing for me, but hey, I’ll say it anyway – ‘you’re a genius.’
Viva la revoultion
*ok, I ‘may’ have put a bit of a sensationalist spin on this, but as being balanced isn’t yet a hobby, that’s fine.
Piney gets a hobby 