Tell me about a hobby you tried that completely flopped. What went wrong?

A natural way to answer

I once tried learning the violin and it never really took off. I underestimated how slow the progress would be, and honestly the early sounds were awful. Eventually I threw in the towel, and the violin has been gathering dust in the cupboard since.

Key phrases to use

• take off — to suddenly start being successful or popular“Her little baking project really took off.”
• throw in the towel — to give up or admit defeat“I threw in the towel after the third failed attempt.”
• gather dust — to be left unused for a long time“My guitar's just gathering dust in the corner.”