[rc09] UNUSUAL, STRANGE & WEIRD HOBBIES
1. Read the article Unusual, Strange & Weird Hobbies! below.
2. Find the definitions of the words and expressions in bold.
3. Tell me, which of these hobbies would you like to try? Why?
You can choose whether to write your answer, or record yourself giving a spoken answer.
Unusual, Strange & Weird Hobbies!
Not all hobbies are created equal. Some are challenging, easy, relaxing, active, and others are just plain weird! Because of this, I have rounded up some of the wackiest and weird hobbies!
1. Collecting Navel Fluff
Though we don’t know exactly how many people are taking part in this hobby on a regular basis, there are people who dedicate a lot of time to it!
One Australian man, Graham Barker, has been collecting his own navel fluff since 1984. His collection weighs 22.1 grams!
2. Extreme Ironing
Yep. You heard it correctly. This is one of the weirder hobbies on our list. Essentially where people will iron something whilst undertaking an extreme sport.
It started in 1997 and has included adventures like climbing a mountain, riding a helicopter, and mid-air skydiving, while ironing. There has even been an Extreme Ironing World Championship!
3. Mooing
It’s what it sounds like – literally. This hobby is based on the competitive ‘sport’ of doing the best impression of a cow.
This interesting hobby started in the USA, and the most recent winner of the competition was a 10-year-old boy in Wisconsin, USA.
If you want to start this hobby, you can begin right now! Go ahead a moo your heart out!
4. Beetle Fighting (remember Dr Seuss and his beetle battles? This is it!)
Now not all of these weird hobbies we suggest actually taking up, like beetle fighting, for example. This is a Japanese tradition and involves people putting insects against one another in small arenas.
It’s more than just some people playing with bugs when they’re bored. They film the matches and post them online, take bets, and some even breed the best fight-worthy beetles for the competition.
5. Collecting In-Flight Sick Bags
This definitely makes it in the top 5 weirdest hobbies of all. It’s quite simple to do – as long as you travel by air often. Simply collect the sick bags from every flight you’ve taken.
What do you do with them once you’ve got them? Nothing. Just collect them as prize possessions and see how many you can get!
Actually, there are some sites for people to buy and trade sick bags to complete their collection!
6. Toy voyaging
Did you know that your toys can have wacky wonderful adventures on their own? Toy voyaging is a hobby where you can send your toy off on a vacation somewhere around the world.
You can even host another hobbyist’s toy on vacation too. People take photos of their toy seeing sights (like the Eiffel Tower above!) and taking part in activities, as well as writing travel journals.
All you need is a toy, and to get connected on the ToyVoyagers platform!
7. Soap carving
This artistic hobby is much more suited to creative and calm individuals. This is about carving intricate works of art into soap.
The use of special tools and techniques is needed to really create something amazing out of blocks and bars of soap.
8. Quidditch
Any Harry Potter fan would appreciate this wonderful sport that has come to life. If you have never seen or read Harry Potter, I suggest you do. I love the books and films! People around the world play Quidditch, especially in colleges and universities.
These real-life games don’t have flying brooms and magic in their equipment and rules – but the human-adapted game is still fun to try.
9. News Raiding
Also known as ‘news-bombing.’ This one definitely had to make our list of weird hobbies that people partake in around the world. This is where people find locations of live news-reports, and make it in the shot as a bystander.
To make this a hobby, it’s not a ‘one-time’ thing. You have to be consistent and diligent in finding where the reports are happening, and making your way into the background.
Check out the same man 'news-bombing' in the 2 photos above!
10. Dirt polishing
This popular and weird hobby has a formal name- Hikaru Dorodango and is about polishing mud. It is a Japanese tradition.
The actual technique of dirt polishing is where a small ball of mud is taken, extracting the moisture in it, and covering it with layers of fine soil, to eventually make a smooth sphere of dirt. The creations are actually quite beautiful works of art.
11. Witchcraft
This isn’t just for scary books or Harry Potter fans. Witchcraft is actually a very well-practiced art for many people around the world.
Modern practices might follow Paganism, Wicca, or Brujeria. Many people in different cultures around the world work with herbs, crystals, trinkets, and spells to heal disease, manifest, and make predictions about the future.
12. Train Surfing
As one of the more dangerous hobbies that we don’t recommend, train surfing involves jumping out of a passenger train to hitch a ride.
It’s a serious thing. This hobby began in Germany in the 80s and later in 2008 more than 40 people died in Germany from attempts at train surfing.
13. Element collecting
Element collecting is where you collect each chemical element from the periodic table (see picture on the left).
You might find a use for the element you collect, or simply collect them without any practical reasons. This one requires study and knowledge to understand the elements.
You can get high-quality samples of each one, or find the element in everyday use. Be careful of the safety level of the element!
14. Ghost Hunting
Not just reserved for the movies, ghost hunting is a real hobby, where people investigate locations that are thought to be haunted.
The aim of this hobby is to gather evidence to support the existence of paranormal activity happening. People use cameras to record their experiences, which they share with the ghost hunting community.
15. Noodling
The name isn’t actually what it sounds like – this isn’t a cooking method to make noodles, it’s actually bare-hand fishing. The most common type of fish that noodlers go after are catfish, though there are other species that can be caught too.
Most noodling takes place in shallow water, and there are known methods to use to make it a safer endeavor.