Aristocratic sports and pasttime activities

[jdcpa]

Regarding the comment about sporting clays above. I love that sport and think it is great to shoot.

However, it seemed that most people held it to be a variation of skeet and trap to make it more 'lively' like game hunting. The targets in sporting clays are often thrown at random angles instead of the predictable set angles and patters of trap and esspecially skeet. Skeet and trap always seemed to be the 'traditional' variants (even though there are a few variations).

I think this also has to do with the fact both have been in the Olympics since around 1900 for trap and around the 1940s for skeet. I think the Olympic nature of it added to its creadability.

 

[Lusitano]

A more seasonal approbiated :

Cresta(Skeleton)

http://www.cresta-run.com/default.cfm

P.s wow my first post!

 

[JLibourel]

Originally Posted by dhaller

Falconry - not for those unnerved by birds (many people are)

Back when aristocratic people were into falconry they had professional falconers to look after their birds. The sport is so labor intensive that today it is really the preserve of eccentric fanatics and not particularly aristocratic.

Anything horsey

A large percentage of the horse people in my part of the world are anything but aristocratic.

Crew

Sailing an actual sailboat

Nothing very special about either if you live near the water, as I do. My stepson, who is a dab hand with a sailboat, would be very surprised to be considered "aristocratic." I'd be even more surprised if anyone else considered him "aristocratic" because of this!

Any kind of elaborate hunting expedition, like hunting a particular sort of bear in Russia (Prince Kari von Schwarzenberg, the chancellor of the Czech Republic, is fond of this) or hunting caribou in Colorado on their pricy lottery system, and slaughtering five of the immense beasts and then donating them to the Catholic mission (as a real estate developer - who is also a Count - I know did!)

There is only one "particular sort" of bear that can be legally hunted in Russia--the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos). The Asiatic black bear occurs in the Russian Far East but is legally protected at this time. There haven't been any caribou in Colorado since the Pleistocene, and they are not particularly "immense beasts," either. Could you be confused with moose, which are immense and do occur in Colorado? I have the sense that a very high percentage of the keenest big game hunters are more new money types (like my old boss Bob Petersen) than old-money "aristocrats" although some of the latter do still participate in the sport.

 

[JibranK]

Originally Posted by Jerome

I think cricket we already had under its more docile designation of croquet
I don't understand. Cricket is not croquet.

 

[Jerome]

I prefer croquet...its more relaxed.

 

[db_ggmm]

opium

 

[Jerome]

DP

 

[Jerome]

^ Ah that's excellent. I have been thinking about it. Smoking opium is the only drug (apart from the normal legal ones) I'd be interested in...

 

[MillionaireTeacher]

If you want to be practical and realistic:

* golf
* tennis
* chess
* wine tasting
* classic literature
* musical instrument

They require a mixture of time and money to master.
The former is more important.

 

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by MillionaireTeacher

If you want to be practical and realistic:

* golf
* tennis
* chess
* wine tasting
* classic literature
* musical instrument

They require a mixture of time and money to master.
The former is more important.

+1

 

[Crane's]

Wudang Swordsmanship.

 

[Hany]

Reading is the aristocratic pastime.

 

[Crane's]

Originally Posted by Hany

Reading is the aristocratic pastime.

No debauchery is.

 

[Hany]

Aristocrats adapt to their time. When people were religious and God-fearing, aristocrats were into debauchery. Now that debauchery and physical pleasures are the everyday of the people, aristocrats have turned to intellectual pleasures and to the criticism of a society based on instant satisfaction, sensuality and the love of money.

 

[Crane's]

Originally Posted by Hany

Aristocrats adapt to their time. When people were religious and God-fearing, aristocrats were into debauchery. Now that debauchery and physical pleasures are the everyday of the people, aristocrats have turned to intellectual pleasures and to the criticism of a society based on instant satisfaction, sensuality and the love of money.

Outwardly perhaps, but behind closed doors is another matter.