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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
is like saying, "I cannot speak English." It disproves itself!
Wrong! Wrong on so many accounts. What if said expression is the only phrase in English a foreigner knows?

Heck, if I were to travel to a French-speaking country right now I'd look up the phrase "I do not speak French" to warn people I may have to interact with in that country that unless they speak English or find a way to communicate with hand signs, notepad drawings, or what have you, that I will NOT be able to understand them.

So, saying "je ne parle pas français" makes me a French speaker now? :rolleyes: Give me a break!
 
Wrong! Wrong on so many accounts. What if said expression is the only phrase in English a foreigner knows?

Heck, if I were to travel to a French-speaking country right now I'd look up the phrase "I do not speak French" to warn people I may have to interact with in that country that unless they speak English or find a way to communicate with hand signs, notepad drawings, or what have you, that I will NOT be able to understand them.

So, saying "je ne parle pas français" makes me a French speaker now? :rolleyes: Give me a break!
You’re always such a grumpy teddy bear, ha ha. So, if I only know one phrase in French, and I say that phrase out loud, I am speaking French, ne pas? He didn’t say to what degree one would have to speak the language, nor to what degree one would have to be involved in “the hobby.”
So, it was one bad analogy…. That doesn’t exactly toss the baby out with the bathwater. puffy

I’m really just commenting so that I can call you a grumpy teddy bear, ha ha.
 
Aug 1, 2012
4,587
5,131
That's the third posting of it in this thread. Leisure time for me means sleep and I identify more with this definition.

habit

noun
  1. 1.
    a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.
Well, if you again look at the word leisure in the OED you'll get some variation on the following:

  • free time
So if leisure time means free time in standard English, while sleep may be your definition, it's not the generally acknowledged definition.

So, if a hobby really is only something you do in your sleep, that's an interesting way to look at it.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
43,248
108,346
Well, if you again look at the word leisure in the OED you'll get some variation on the following:

  • free time
So if leisure time means free time in standard English, while sleep may be your definition, it's not the generally acknowledged definition.

So, if a hobby really is only something you do in your sleep, that's an interesting way to look at it.
I work a 7/12 shift. The bulk of my off work time is sleeping, eating, driving, and errands. No real me time to indulge leisurely pursuits. The only real free time I get is when I sleep.
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
If the pipes I have are for display or showing off, I would say I collect them and therefore hobby. If I taken count of blends I have and keep any track of what's what, I would say I'm a collector or hobbyist. The pipes I have are for smoking. Blends I have are for smoking. It's like tshirts and shorts, I have plenty of them, but I'm not a fashion consultant. I'm a smoker.
 
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SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,519
7,242
NE Wisconsin
Wrong! Wrong on so many accounts. What if said expression is the only phrase in English a foreigner knows?

Heck, if I were to travel to a French-speaking country right now I'd look up the phrase "I do not speak French" to warn people I may have to interact with in that country that unless they speak English or find a way to communicate with hand signs, notepad drawings, or what have you, that I will NOT be able to understand them.

So, saying "je ne parle pas français" makes me a French speaker now? :rolleyes: Give me a break!

Online discourse just wouldn't be as fun without poking holes in the periphery, would it?

There is, on the one hand, a man's point; and there is, on the other hand, convenient but imperfect ways for him to express that point.

My point here was that some things are, under the circumstances in view, comically self-defeating. There is a strain of humor rooted in this sort of thing. You know, like, a child being asked if she stole a cookie, and cookie falling out of her mouth as she answers in the negative. Or, a man being told that he is too angry, and his screaming back in loud and caustic tones, "I am not effing angry!!!"

A man saying that he does not speak a language, in that language, was an extremely convenient example for me to employ, but it was never intended to be air-tight in the real world, because the illustration was never the point. We can use imperfect illustrations because we can trust that savvy fellows such as yourself can pick up what's being laid down.

Just as there are real-world exceptions to the generally self-contradictory nature of denying that you speak a language, in that language, so are there real-world exceptions to the generally self-contradictory nature of denying that something is a hobby on a generally hobby-ish discussion forum.

I'm sure that you're here for non-hobby reasons, and neither of us need lose sleep over it either way.
 
If the pipes I have are for display or showing off, I would say I collect them and therefore hobby. If I taken count of blends I have and keep any track of what's what, I would say I'm a collector or hobbyist. The pipes I have are for smoking. Blends I have are for smoking. It's like tshirts and shorts, I have plenty of them, but I'm not a fashion consultant. I'm a smoker.
Where did the idea that you can’t smoke the pipes for this to be a hobby? I know a dude that is into short wave radios and uses them and considers it his hobby. People who are into the gun hobby fire them. People in the archery hobby definitely use their bows.
 

bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
Where did the idea that you can’t smoke the pipes for this to be a hobby? I know a dude that is into short wave radios and uses them and considers it his hobby. People who are into the gun hobby fire them. People in the archery hobby definitely use their bows.
They can smoke it, it's their pipe. Call it a hobby if they want to, smoking the pipe or not. Just doesn't fit my idea of hobby way I treat smoking.
 
Nov 11, 2021
7
18
Queensland, AUSTRALIA
If i admire the scent of a woman's perfume as she passes, smell the scent of eucalyptus and lemon myrtle on the air after a summer afternoon thunderstorm, savour the flavours of malt, hops and yeast as i drink a glass of fresh home brewed ale, am i engaging in a hobby? Is the temporal regularity of these things anything really useful to do with defining or describing them, does it heighten their appeal? Is free time that time which we spend not getting paid, in which case it's not really free because it costs money to live?

Not being critical, i love a pseudo-semantic, semi-rhetorical argument as much as the next person, i'll admit, i'm a cynic at heart. To address the topic directly i'm going to say my pipe smoking is not a hobby, because that all sounds a bit namby-pamby to me, and no part of a manly pursuit of a noble and gentle yet rugged tradition, and i always seem to have a streak of blatant contrarianism about me.;)
 

smokeymo

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 1, 2020
173
482
AZ
If you have more than a handful of pipes (go ahead and see if you can fit all of them in ONE of your hands) then you are a collector. Hobby.
If you have more than five different tobacco blends, you're collecting (yes, we call it cellaring in the hobby). Hobby.

Also, what the heck is so wrong with having a hobby? Every well-rounded man should have a hobby to focus on and enjoy. It's good for mental health and to keep us out of trouble. I don't understand the vitriol towards hobbies at all.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
Smoking is a wee vice. A selfish choice. Everyone should have a wee vice but, hobbies are for people with too much free time. Of course a hobby is just an excuse to spend time away from the wife and kids. So, a hobby is a selfish choice also. But, most hobbies are not a vice so, nobody needs a hobby. Only married guys with kids need a hobby.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,623
44,833
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
We had a thread on this very topic a few years ago. Then as now, people objected to the term, hobby, some quite strenuously.
The definition is pretty straightforward, something someone does in their leisure time for enjoyment. Nothing more, nothing less. Why it’s enjoyable doesn’t enter into it.
For some it may be more of a pursuit than for others.
Call it what you will, a pastime, a passion, an interest, an activity, a fascination, whatever. It still falls under the definition of a hobby unless it’s your profession.
Why some folks get their backs up over the word is a mystery to me.
I enjoy smoking a pipe. I enjoy every aspect of it, the variety of pipes and tobaccos, the esthetics of the briar, all of the fiddling around, packing, cleaning, etc, the history of pipes and tobaccos, the flavors, all of it.
It’s a hobby and maybe a little more.
It’s a hoot to see the contortions some of us go through trying to get around a word with a simple meaning.
 

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,699
16,206
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
So, if I detest driving, unless I drive a hack or semi or some such, it's a hobby? That's a pretty loose def of hobby. Don't get me wrong, what a person refers to their activities is something I care not a whit about. I define myself as a smoker, it's not a past time, an "activity" per se, it's not even enjoyable at all times. I smoke for the nicotine. It's an addiction, nothing more or less. The pipe is simply one of the available methods for delivering the drug. It's handy, costs almost nothing and my brand of cigarette is no longer manufactured so I'm down to a chaw or the pipe. The nic patch is a viable alternative as is the gum. I'd much prefer an IV setup around the house as their would be less damage to carpets, paint and the reek from smoking.
 
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