#HOBO DEFINITION SERIES#

As a result, they embraced the inconsistent hobo life with the hopes of experiencing better financial luck elsewhere. Many people struggled to find work in their communities. Countless individuals lost their homes, their jobs, and their savings. However, hobo life lost its charm after the Great Depression threw the lives of working people into turmoil. The hobo never knows what is going to happen the next moment hence, he lives only in the present moment. In Hobo Land the face of life is protean-an ever changing phantasmagoria, where the impossible happens and the unexpected jumps out of the bushes at every turn of the road. Perhaps the greatest charm of tramp-life is the absence of monotony. Famous hobo and writer Jack London wrote: The 1920s saw writers like Walt Whitman romanticizing the migratory life of hobos, a phenomenon called “ Hobohemia” by sociologist Nels Anderson. Hobos became even more notable in the 1920s and early 1930s. While hobos are still ill-defined by many historians, one definition has remained consistent: they were migratory workers who searched for temporary jobs across the country, with most train-hopping to new locations. The origin of hobos dates back to the start of the railroad, yet became relatively significant after the conclusion of the American Civil War (1860) when soldiers who had returned from battle began traveling in search of post-war work.īetween 19, the hobo population surged from 500,000 to 700,000.

#HOBO DEFINITION SERIES#

How did they communicate? Through a unique series of graphics known as “hobo symbols.” Who were the original American hobos? What was the purpose of their signs/symbols? And what were some of the popular symbols used? Who were the original American hobos? Many hobos desired to protect their community from cruelty and steer them in the direction of goodwill. The life of the American hobo was an unpredictable and dangerous one. While we may never pin down the origin of “hobo” with absolute certainty, my money is riding on that “Ho, boy!” shout, which was verifiably in use by railway workers at the time and could easily have been adopted as a name for their vagabond passengers.Hobos signs and symbols were a unique means of communication that helped steer hobos in the right direction-towards work and away from trouble

There’s also a suggestion that “hobo” is short for “hopping boxcars,” and some maintain that “hobo” is short for Hoboken, NJ, where many rail lines converged in the 19th century, making the city a natural gathering point for vagabonds. A more logical local source may have been the greeting shout “Ho, boy!” apparently common among railroad workers at the time. The English dialect terms “hawbuck” and “hawbaw,” meaning “an unmannerly lout” (Oxford English Dictionary) have been proposed as sources, but England was a world away from the Northwest US in those days. The term “hobo” is first attested in print in the late 1800s in the Pacific Northwest, and almost immediately theories arose as to its origin.

(The traditional explanation of the difference between a “hobo” and a “tramp” is that the former travels to find work, the latter to avoid it.) The classic “hobo” who travels by hopping rides on freight trains first appeared in the US after the Civil War, and the “hobo” population exploded during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Incidentally, I had never heard “outdoorsman” as a euphemism for “homeless.” I think whoever came up with it (no doubt in a warm, dry place) should spend a week sleeping under a highway overpass and then reassess his or her obnoxious invention.Ī “hobo” is, of course, a homeless person, specifically one who travels or wanders in search of work or odd jobs. We have bushels of theories about all sorts of things, from why cats stare at blank walls (they’re messing with your mind) to why so many Americans drive like morons these days (NASCAR is the one sport many couch potatoes are, unfortunately, equipped to emulate).Īs for “hobo,” there are quite a few theories about its origins as well, but I must admit from the git-go that certainty on the question remains, shall we say, elusive. Well, if it’s theories you’re looking for, you’ve hit pay dirt. I hope you have more than just “origin unknown.” Any theories? - Martin Celusnak. I looked at the dictionary for hobo and it says “origin unknown” and it is not in your archives. Dear Word Detective: I was asking a co-worker what costume her kids were choosing for Halloween and she mentioned how costumes are more complex today compared with the past when a kid could just put on old clothes and tie a bundle on a stick and go as a “hobo.” I commented that she was dating herself with that term and we discussed the more politically correct terms, from “homeless” to “outdoorsman” (that euphemism sounds like someone who reads “Field and Stream”).

Hobo definition