the 'each to their own, i guess' thread

magicbastarder

those hobbies and pastimes that you've absolutely no beef with but just can't see the attraction of. i mean, i don't like golf, but i can understand there's a skill/challenge/reward to it, but other activities just leave you scratching your head.

i'll open the bidding with plane spotting; i pass along the side of dublin airport a lot so often see lads with long lenses taking photos of planes. i simply don't see the attraction. the vast majority of planes are just normal passenger planes, with some cargo planes and private jets thrown in the mix. i just don't see a sense of achievement, i guess?

much as i know i cannot set rules for the thread, it'd be more interesting if people posted about activities they don't understand, rather than ones they dislike. and just maybe someone who is a plane spotter might be reading this and would be able to let me know what i'm missing.

osarusan

Collecting stuff like coins and stamps...i just don't see what the appeal can be.

buried

Ordinary Citizens Supporting one political party for life.

standardg60

I'd have thought plane and train spotting was more to do with the order and logistics of arranging their movements, i do find ATC fascinating and is probably a missed calling for me, i love order.

Collected matchboxes, beermats and stamps in my teens which i still have, maybe collecting stuff was just something to do back then before the advent of the internet, having money, and multiple tv channels led to other distractions.

looksee

Watching formula 1 motor racing. Both husband and son passionate watchers (on tv) and I could never see it. Neeeowww, neeeowwww round and round and that seemed to be all there was to it. They would never admit that they were just watching for the crashes, but I had dark suspicions that that was the case.

Count Dracula

Climate change fascists and over the top environmentalists.

Basically the Nazi's of the 3rd millennium.

Scary the level of influence and traction they have now.

By the way..... it is 100% more likely that the Ozone is depleting due to an increase in Solar Flare activity. The irony, that such a cute little phenomenon, that has generated a tourist industry and flawed smiles around mortals bland after dinner conversation, is actually an uncontrollable Global Cancer that will most likely eradicate the human race is not lost on me and my lair.

It epitomises how clueless, misinformed "put your hands in the fire there" environmentalists really are? It is pathetic and the fact that dysfunctional autocracy's, such as the EU, are actually basing their long term strategy, on combatting a problem, they have no solution for, and using it as a reason to extort wealth from citizens they are pretending to represent and protect........ has the entire vampire population in stiches.

You couldn't make it up ?

looksee

You couldn't make it up ?

Goodness. There's passion!

Psychlops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058286616/the-each-to-their-own-i-guess-thread

Plane spotting is all about Variety, the type of aircraft is it civil/military/airplane/helicopter, where is it coming from, if military what is its job, also the liveries can be epic too.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307545#Comment_120307545

You collect mad conspiracy theories.

Cricket - good lord. What is that about?

Potential-Monke

Soccer, especially on the elite level. For 99% of most games, it's just boring passing, back and forth. Throw in some scandalous dives and life-ending-oh-wait-no-he-got-a-free-so-hes-fine injuries, verbal abuse from the rich to the working class(ish - refs) and it's worse than Fair City. The odd shot, complete with everyones valid opinion on how that elite player did everything wrong. Players are brilliant when they play good, and utter scutter when they play bad. Panto level stuff. Was better in the 90s when they actually tried to kill each other, or at least some did. Was more exciting.

I actually have a large list, it involves most things because I'm basically the polar opposite of most people. Most people on this thread would probably put my likes down here!

Also, kinda annoyed that the thread isn't called "The 'to each their own' thread"...

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307595#Comment_120307595

Anyone influenced by strains of nationalist fascists ,compelled to ridicule other sports, to enable the fanatic survival of their own ...... should really examine their influences now, while they still have the chance or option to do so.

It is tragic that cricket in Ireland is such a victim of bigotry?

If it was such a crap sport ,why did the GAA feel compelled to ban it for over a century?

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307545#Comment_120307545

Like I said, I was hoping people wouldn't use the thread to exercise their beefs. Clearly your dislike overrode that.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307369#Comment_120307369

I guess the attraction there is collecting rare things? There's a challenge in a sense to completing a collection?

Leg End Reject

Online trolls and Walter Mittys who curate extravagant alter egos.

Car enthusiasts. I don't understand the fascination with cars at all, once it starts and gets me from A to B I'm happy.

Shopping as a hobby, aimlessly walking around shopping centres at the weekend. I'd rather bang my head off the wall.

Following celebrity gossip and being excited about a Kardashian arse is doing.

The compulsion to document your life on social media. Congrats, you're out for a meal or drink, why not just enjoy it and the people you're with?

Local busybodies who pride themselves on knowing their neighbours routines and when they get an Amazon or takeaway delivery. Bonus points if they're on the resident's committee.

saabsaab

Marathon running or Mountain climbing (big ones). I don't get it at all.

Riddle101

Social media influencers. I haven't seen an influencer who didn't have a big ego or didn't come across like an utter tool. Just seems silly to me.

Purple Mountain

I'll second the golf.

It seems like a strange sport when so much of it is actually not on ball contact but rather walking to the ball.

It actually wouldn't be so bad if somehow you were just hitting balls constantly towards a target without the walk in between.

Maybe a driving range would be more my thing!

StupidLikeAFox

Doing jigsaws. Massive waste of time. I get its probably a brainless thing and not everything you do has to be productive or improve your life but still, seems very pointless (I appreciate the irony of a guy with over 7k posts on boards having this opinion)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307881#Comment_120307881

Oh we love a jigsaw. Something we pick away at of an evening and have a few drinks maybe and talk about things as we pick at the pieces. We could be sat watching shite on TV otherwise. Another guilty pleasure is a colouring book for me.

orourkeda1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307459#Comment_120307459

Supporting Any Political Party. EVER.

orourkeda1

Rugby.

To my mind, Rugby Union is the most boring sport ever invented. I'd rather watch someone fishing than watch Rugby Union. I f*cking hate Rugby Union.

At least fishing offers the possibility of food at the end of it.

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307851#Comment_120307851

I've always thought the walk was the point. It's an excuse to spend the day somewhere outdoors with fairly nice scenery.

I've some friends who are very into it, I see the appeal but I tried a couple of times but it's the ball-hitting bit I couldn't get. Only sport I've ever tried where I literally just couldn't do it at all on the most basic level, I'd no notion at all what direction or at what speed the ball was going to go on any given swing I took.

Strumms

I’d agree with climate change fascists… cant understand the mindset, the aggressive, in your face ignorant ones who never see any pathway to a cleaner healthier planet aside from attacking the ordinary citizen while giving a hall pass to businesses and corporations but will lambast x person for booking two flights a year. Or castigating an individual who needs to drive to work, but the very job they do is for a business that produces tonnes of carbon as part of their pursuit of profit…never get what that’s about, never understand that mindset.

People into…Collecting things that you can’t / don’t use yet which have no tangible aesthetic beauty either, which are more ‘curious’ stamps, wood carvings, candles, etc…

Old car enthusiasts… not classics just old ones, a neighbour has a driveway with multiple cars, which he owns, he is a qualified mechanic and that’s his 9-5 but I’ve known him since childhood and anytime you pass the house of an evening he’s under the bonnet of a 1992 BMW, 1990 Ford Granada, and one other I can’t recall … they never seem to get driven, he’s always in the van.

Potential-Monke

I like golf. I used to hate it, thought it was pointless and boring. Then I spent many evenings drinking and playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 98 or one of those years because the local had one of those PGA Tour golf arcade machines with the rolly ball and I wanted to get better - you could win money. Got used to the idea of the game, what everything is called, and it allowed me to appreciate the absolutely crazy shots some of them pull off in real life. But yeah, the walking is boring. You could skip that in the games.

Lewis_Benson

Soccer - let's face it, its not really about a game of ball anymore is it?

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307520#Comment_120307520

re spotting. Someone close to me was very into train and plane spotting. It is fascinating in its own way, garnering numbers and types. I could happily take to it.

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307881#Comment_120307881

I was very into this as a child and teenager. Just totally absorbing! I gathered dozens of jigsaws and completed them time after time. Now? No way! But they teach many things. Shapes, colours, hand and eye coordination skills... Maybe I SHOULD try one again! And yes that was way before TV

Graces7

Do cats count? Collecting I mean... But seriously nine moves in 20 years has forced me to prune my garnerings. ... Although now i am settled... hmmm! Oh knitting yarn; cannot resist it.... Bags of it abound here..Always seeking more..

Sgt Hartman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308091#Comment_120308091

I'm kinda imagining you as looking like this, although without the craziness 😅

For me though I just don't get the whole running phenomenon or why there's so many people into it. I just find it so boring with little reward at the end other than getting a "good finishing time". One of the porters in the hospital I work in had to get two hip replacements at 40 years of age because he ran for years and years without bothering to build up any of his leg or glute muscles. The lack of protection around his hips combined with years of running completely wore out his hip joints.

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308121#Comment_120308121

I once joined an online group called " Crazy Cat Ladies." lol... I do qualify..... moved from the tip of Cornwall to Orkney with 12 cats in a Mini once....! Down to three now but possibly more soon...

osarusan

I don't really get the posters mentioning one particular sport. It makes more sense if you've no interest in any sport. I have no interest in basketball whatsoever. I couldn't watch a game. But I'll watch football anywhere, any time. So even though I have no interest in basketball (or plenty of other sports), I can see how others would, as it's the same feeling I have about football.

I think the thread is supposed to be about stuff that you can't understand anybody having an interest in.

So with coin collecting...here's a 1921 silver half-crown or whatever...so you held it in your nand and turned it over and had a good look at it, and now you put it in a display case....so what?

It's not just collecting stuff. I can understand people collecting records from bands they like or whatever. I collect stones - mainly from long walks/hikes I went on. I'll take a piece of stone home with me from the top of the mountain or whatever. But each stone evokes a mermory of a sort - the day I went on that particular hike. There's a personal connection, in a way that there isn't with an old coin or stamp.

French Toast

Dogs.

Great source of company for the elderly and maybe for teaching responsibility to kids but an extra source of expense and another hairy arse-hole to be smelling up the house.

Understand the attraction but not for me.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308121#Comment_120308121

I play 5 a side twice a week and run when I miss a game of 5 a side. The feeling I get after a 30 minute run is worth it, I get such a high from it, like im on ecstasy or something, it is great for your mental health as well. It got me through the lockdowns when I couldn't play 5 a side. I feel great after 5 a side but its nothing like the feeling after a 30 minute run.

Cluedo Monopoly

I don't really understand people that drink at home on a regular basis. The pub/restaurant yes but it just seems so pointless at home. And depressing.

Stephen_Maturin

Drag shows and performances

Not at all in a “grrr men aren’t supposed to dress up like women”, toxic masculinity way (as the thread title says, to each their own), I just don’t really “get” what the point/appeal of it all is.

Obviously there’s a performance aspect to it but does it all hinge on it being performed a man dressed like a woman? I don’t really get what it adds because I probably wouldn’t be hugely interested if the same “routine” was done by a woman either.

The missus is mad into RuPaul’s Drag Race - I’ve watched a couple of episodes of it with her and I just don’t get what it’s all about!

I find the humour and the look of it all quite tacky and over dramatic…missus says that’s the point? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I dunno, I do hate and have always hated the Panto, even from a young age - perhaps it’s a holdover from that!

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307893#Comment_120307893

Ah can you still get those huge posters to colour? I did one years ago when I was all but bedbound.. It got lost in a move,.... Absorbing and mind freeing from problems... Yes...doodleart.... WOW

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307893#Comment_120307893

Ah thats fair enough, I'll give you a pass because you use it as a social thing!

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307595#Comment_120307595

How to tell the world you are protestant without telling the world you are protestant. 😁

P.S. If you are catholic and like cricket, get out.

To be fair though when it comes to cricket, you nearly have to be Einstein to work out the scores and it's a sport that you can't really walk in on a game and ask 'who's winning'.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308237#Comment_120308237

We had to get one of our dogs put down last weekend. He was very sick. Many tears in the house I can tell you.

Smelly, annoying fcukers who wreck your house, kind of like children.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308829#Comment_120308829

Do you not think you would have to use your brain to complete a 5000 piece jigsaw? Jigsaws are great to keep the brain active.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120307881#Comment_120307881

I am happy to 'help' someone else doing a jigsaw. I wouldn't set one up myself but if someone else is doing one I can offer advice and put in the odd piece. People get irritated with me, can't think why.

Chips Lovell

Gambling/betting.

I don't really get the appeal at all.

magicbastarder

i know someone who used to earn a bit of cash on poker, which is a different kettle of fish to betting on horse races - which seems like a mug's game to me, and yes, i don't understand the attraction there either.

Mister Vain

Those lip syncing tiktok videos. There was a time when that sort of behaviour would have been monitored by a psychiatric nurse. Now its considered influential.

Leg End Reject

Gaming, I don't get the appeal at all.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120309672#Comment_120309672

I am not interested myself but I can see how it could be entertaining.

magicbastarder

another thing i don't 'get' is buying or owning powerful or expensive cars. or else, to put it another way, it's a stupendously expensive way of getting your enjoyment?

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120310464#Comment_120310464

That’s as good an explanation as any really - it’s an expensive hobby, but sure they have the money for it and they enjoy it. I can think of plenty of odd or bizarre pastimes or activities that leave me scratching my head, but it comes down to the same thing - I don’t get it, but they enjoy it, whatever it is. Be hard to pin it down to just one or two 😖

Graces7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308912#Comment_120308912

I used to love jigsaws but then needed something with an end product that did not get broken up again so started eg embroidery and gardening. It was a useful pathway to those occupations Would not dream of doing a jigsaw now..

Did you smash it

attending GAA intercounty games of teams that never achieve anything and are there to make up the numbers. The stadiums are decrepit, there is no decent food or drink to be had in GAA grounds and yet people will still turn up and watch Wicklow vs Sligo or Fermanagh vs Waterford.