On working and playing

[stephbg]

There are some professions that also make perfectly reasonable hobbies. You can both work and play with cars, trains, computers, food, paint and music. Even children.



However...it's not quite universal.

Working with matches, for example. Playing with matches takes you to another place entirely. In our great dig-it-up-then-ship-it-out state plenty of people work with explosives. Playing with explosives just makes me think of Mythbusters.

What about chickens? Work, sure. Play, not so much.

Cheese? Accident victims?

With what else can you feasibly work, but not quite get away with playing with*?

(*) Grammatical advice for that sentence invited and welcomed.

Comments

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

Dead bodies.

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

To quote Tom Lehrer "...the story of a young necrophiliac who achieves his boyhood ambition, and becomes the town coroner. (pause) I see the inmates are out in force tonight. (pause) The rest of you can look it up when you get home."

Ahem.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

I have known people who where interested in both explosives and chickens as hobbies.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

But did they *work* with chickens and explosives?

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Let's see now:

Rockets! Nope - rockets are fun.
Guns! Nope - looks a plentitude of gun clubs.
Sheep! Considers the plethora of hobby farms. And ... nope.
Cheese? I know of hobby cheese makers. I've even attempted it.
Bones. Yeah! Bo - err what would you use them for professionally? Anyway, scrimshaw kills that one off.
Nuclear Reactors. Yep, I think we have a winner. Although there was one case of a hobby-built Thorium reactor... it was pretty grim.

Most things have a hobby use, though (reactors not withstanding). Even tanks and fighter aircraft. An aircraft carrier might be going a bit far.

Leece points out that virii are another likely candidate. Bacteria, oddly, do have recreational uses. Anthrax, OTOH, well, we just don't want to know.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I was questioning the questionableness of the specific verb "to play".

Scrimshaw <> "to play with bones"

[sassamifrass.livejournal.com]

I had to read this aloud XD

Working with insecurities, playing with insecurities? The difference between a counselor and a comedian? ...Maybe not.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I think it works in all the right/wrong ways :-)

work/play with: The criminally insane

Hmmm.