HOBBIES AND LEISURE-TIME OCCUPATIONS
From the old English word hobby meaning horse, came
the modern word hobbyhorse. This is a dummy horse at-
tached to a performer who pretended to be riding a horse
in a play or a dance. Hobbyhorse has been shortened to
hobby to describe any favourite leisure time occupation. This
word has become rather common in modern usage.
Leisure time occupations, or hobbies, can be divided
into four groups: doing things, making things, collecting
things and learning things. Of these four groups, doing
things is perhaps the most popular. It includes a wide range
of activities, from gardening to sailing and from chess to
foreign travel. Some of these hobbies require very little
equipment while others require considerably more. There is
also a choice between mental and physical activities, indoor
and outdoor pursuits, etc.
Leisure time occupations can be more or less active.
A real hobby is usaully defined as something creative and
individual, sometimes even as something obsessive, unusual or
eccentric.
