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For the typeface, see Hobo (typeface). For other uses, see Hobo (disambiguation).
wankers bindle

A hobo is a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, especially one who is penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century.[1] Unlike "tramps", who work only when they are forced to, and "bums", who do not work at all, "hobos" are workers who wander.[1][2]

Etymology

The origin of the term is unknown. Etymologist Anatoly Liberman says that the only details certain about its origin is that the word emerged in American English and was first noticed around 1890.[1] Liberman points out that many folk etymologies fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?"[1] Author Todd DePastino has suggested that it may come from the term hoe-boy meaning "farmhand", or a greeting such as Ho, boy!.[3] Bill Bryson suggests in Made in America that it could either come from the railroad greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a syllabic abbreviation of "homeward bound".[4] H. L. Mencken, in his The American Language (4th ed., 1937), wrote:

Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but see themselves as sharply differentiated. A hobo or bo is simply a migratory laborer; he may take some longish holidays, but sooner or later he returns to work. A tramp never works if it can be avoided; he simply travels. Apart from either is the bum, who neither works nor travels, save when propelled to motion by the police.[2]

History

It is unclear exactly when hobos first appeared on the American railroading scene. With the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many discharged veterans looking to return home took to hopping freight trains. Others looking for work on the American frontier followed the railways west aboard freight trains in the late 19th Century.

In 1906, Professor Layal Shafee, after an exhaustive study, put the number of tramps in America at about 500,000 (about 0.6% of the U.S. population). His article "What Tramps Cost Nation" was published by The New York Telegraph in 1911, when he estimated the number had surged to 700,000.[5]

The number of hobos increased greatly during the Great Depression era of the 1930s.[6] With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to travel for free by freight train and try their luck elsewhere.

Life as a hobo was dangerous. In addition to the problems of being itinerant, poor, far from home and support, plus a hostile attitude of many train crews, they faced the railroads' security staff, nicknamed bulls, who had a reputation of violence against trespassers.[citation needed] Riding on a freight train is dangerous in itself. British poet W.H. Davies, author of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, lost a foot when he fell under the wheels trying to jump aboard a train. It was easy to be trapped between cars, and one could freeze to death in bad weather. When freezer cars were loaded at an ice factory, any hobo inside was likely to be killed.[7]

According to Ted Conover in Rolling Nowhere (1984), as many as 20,000 people were living a hobo life in North America. Modern freight trains are much faster and thus harder to ride than in the 1930s, but they can still be boarded in railyards.[8]

National Hobo Convention

In 1900, the town fathers of Britt, Iowa invited Tourist Union #63 to bring their annual convention to town, and the National Hobo Convention has been held in August each year ever since.[9] Hobos stay in the "Hobo Jungle" telling stories around campfires at night. A hobo king and queen are named each year and get to ride on special floats in the Hobo Day parade. Following the parade, mulligan stew is served to hundreds of people in the city park. Live entertainment, a carnival, and a flea market are also part of the festivities.

Culture

Expressions used through 1940s

Hobo term Explanation
Accommodation car the caboose of a train
Angellina young inexperienced child
Bad Road a train line rendered useless by some hobo's bad action
Banjo (1) a small portable frying pan. (2) a short, "D" handled shovel
Barnacle a person who sticks to one job a year or more
Beachcomber a hobo who hangs around docks or seaports
Big House prison
Bindle stick collection of belongings wrapped in cloth and tied around a stick
Bindlestiff a hobo who carries a bindle.
Blowed-in-the-glass a genuine, trustworthy individual
'Bo the common way one hobo referred to another: "I met that 'Bo on the way to Bangor last spring."
Boil Up specifically, to boil one's clothes to kill lice and their eggs. Generally, to get oneself as clean as possible
Bone polisher a mean dog
Bone orchard a graveyard
Bull a railroad officer
Bullets beans
Buck a Catholic priest good for a dollar
Buger today's lunch
C, H, and D indicates an individual is Cold, Hungry, and Dry (thirsty)
California Blankets newspapers, intended to be used for bedding
Calling In using another's campfire to warm up or cook
Cannonball a fast train
Carrying the Banner keeping in constant motion so as to avoid being picked up for loitering or to keep from freezing
Catch the Westbound to die
Chuck a dummy pretend to faint
Cover with the moon sleep out in the open
Cow crate a railroad stock car
Crumbs lice
Docandoberry anything that grows on the side of a river that's edible
Doggin' it traveling by bus, especially on the Greyhound bus line
Easy mark a hobo sign or mark that identifies a person or place where one can get food and a place to stay overnight
Elevated under the influence of drugs or alcohol
Flip to board a moving train
Flop a place to sleep, by extension, "Flophouse", a cheap hotel.
Glad Rags one's best clothes
Graybacks lice
Grease the Track to be run over by a train
Gump a chicken [10]
Honey dipping working with a shovel in the sewer
Hot (1) a fugitive hobo. (2) a decent meal: "I could use three hots and a flop."
Hot Shot train with priority freight, stops rarely, goes faster; synonym for "Cannonball"
Jungle an area off a railroad where hobos camp and congregate
Jungle Buzzard a hobo or tramp who preys on their own
Knowledge bus a school bus used for shelter
Main Drag the busiest road in a town
Moniker / Monica a nickname
Maeve a child hobo usually a girl
Mulligan a type of community stew, created by several hobos combining whatever food they have or can collect
Nickel note five-dollar bill
On the Fly jumping a moving train
Padding the hoof to travel by foot
Possum Belly to ride on the roof of a passenger car. One must lie flat, on his/her stomach, to not be blown off
Pullman a railroad sleeper car. Most were made by George Pullman company.
Punk any young kid
Reefer a compression of "refrigerator car".
Road kid a young hobo who apprentices himself to an older hobo in order to learn the ways of the road
Road stake the small amount of money a hobo may have in case of an emergency
Rum dum a drunkard
Sky pilot a preacher or minister
Soup bowl a place to get soup, bread and drinks
Snipes cigarette butts "sniped" (e.g. in ashtrays)
Spare biscuits looking for food in garbage cans
Stemming panhandling or mooching along the streets
Tokay Blanket drinking alcohol to stay warm
Yegg a traveling professional thief, or burglar

Many hobo terms have become part of common language, such as "Big House", "glad rags", "main drag", and others.

Hobo (sign) code

Hobo code at a Canal Street Ferry entrance in New Orleans, Louisiana

To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. Hobos would write this code with chalk or coal to provide directions, information, and warnings to other hobos. Some signs included "turn right here", "beware of hostile railroad police", "dangerous dog", "food available here", and so on. For instance:

  • A cross signifies "angel food", that is, food served to the hobos after a sermon.
  • A triangle with hands signifies that the homeowner has a gun.[11]
  • A horizontal zigzag signifies a barking dog.[9]
  • A square missing its top line signifies it is safe to camp in that location.
  • A top hat and a triangle signify wealth.
  • A spearhead signifies a warning to defend oneself.
  • A circle with two parallel arrows means to get out fast, as hobos are not welcome in the area.[9]
  • Two interlocked circles signify handcuffs. (i.e. hobos are hauled off to jail).
  • A Caduceus symbol signifies the house has a doctor living in it.
  • A cross with a smiley face in one of the corners means the doctor at this office will treat hobos for free.
  • A cat signifies that a kind lady lives here.[9]
  • A wavy line (signifying water) above an X means fresh water and a campsite.
  • Three diagonal lines mean it's not a safe place.
  • A square with a slanted roof (signifying a house) with an X through it means that the house has already been "burned" or "tricked" by another hobo and is not a trusting house.
  • Two shovels, signifying work was available (shovels, because most hobos performed manual labor).

Another version of the Hobo Code exists as a display in the Steamtown National Historic Site at Scranton, Pennsylvania, operated by the National Park Service.

A QR Hobo Code, with a QR stenciler, was released by the Free Art and Technology Lab in July 2011.[12]

Hobo (ethical) code

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri.[13] This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body; it reads this way:

  1. Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
  2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
  3. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
  4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.
  5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
  6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals' treatment of other hobos.
  7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
  8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.
  9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
  10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
  11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
  12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
  13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose all molesters to authorities, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
  14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
  15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.

Hobos

Notable hobos

In mainstream culture

Examples of characters based on hobos include Emmett Kelly's "Weary Willy" and Red Skelton's "Freddy the Freeloader".

Books

Comics

Movies

  • Wild Boys of the Road (1933), directed by William A. Wellman
  • Sullivan's Travels (1941), directed by Preston Sturges.
  • Emperor of the North Pole aka Emperor of the North (1973), directed by Robert Aldrich. OCLC 70283150. Loosely based on Jack London's The Road.
  • Hard Times aka The Streetfighter (1975), directed by Walter Hill (his directorial debut), and starring Charles Bronson (as a hobo turned street fighter) and James Coburn (as a gambler who becomes his manager).
  • The Billion Dollar Hobo (1977), starring Tim Conway and Will Geer.
  • The Journey of Natty Gann (1985), young girl riding the rails to find her father.
  • Ironweed (1987), directed by Héctor Babenco and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by William Kennedy, who also wrote the screenplay. Stars Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, with Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe, Diane Venora, Fred Gwynne, Nathan Lane, and Tom Waits in supporting roles.
  • Life Stinks (1991), directed by and starring Mel Brooks.
  • Tokyo Godfathers (2003), an anime directed by Satoshi Kon.
  • The Polar Express (2004), a computer-animated feature film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, features a gruff but helpful hobo character (one of five characters played by Hanks) who seems to be the corporeal appearance of a spirit or angel.
  • Into the Wild (2007), directed by Sean Penn, based on Jon Krakauer's non-fiction book about Christopher McCandless
  • Resurrecting the Champ (2007), starring Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett, directed by Rod Lurie.
  • Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008), starring Abigail Breslin, Chris O'Donnell, Julia Ormond and Max Thieriot. Directed by Patricia Rozema.
  • Hobo with a Shotgun (2011), an exploitation film directed by Jason Eisener and written by John Davies, starring Rutger Hauer as a vigilante hobo.

Documentaries

  • American Experience, "Riding the Rails" (1999), a PBS documentary by Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys, narrated by Richard Thomas, detailing the hobos of the Great Depression, with interviews of those who rode the rails during those years.
  • Hobo (1992), a documentary by John T. Davis, following the life of a hobo on his travels through the United States.
  • "The Human Experience", (2008), a documentary by Charles Kinnane. The first experience follows Jeffrey and his brother Clifford to the streets of New York City where the boys live with the homeless for a week in one of the coldest winters on record. The boys look for hope and camaraderie among their homeless companions, learning how to survive on the streets.
  • The American Hobo (2003), a documentary Narrated by Ernest Borgnine featuring interviews with Merle Haggard and James Michener.

Songs

Musicians known for hobo songs include Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Utah Phillips, Jimmie Rodgers, Seasick Steve, and Boxcar Willie.

Examples of hobo songs include:

Television

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d "On Hobos, Hautboys, and Other Beaus". OUPblog. Oxford University Press. November 12, 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  2. ^ a b Mencken, H.L. (1937). "On the road again". The American Language (4th ed.). grammarphobia.com(July 25, 2009). Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved 2009-08-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Interview with Todd DePastino, author of Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America from the University of Chicago Press website
  4. ^ Bryson, Bill (1998). Made in America. [page needed]. ISBN 978-0-380-71381-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ New York Telegraph: "What Tramps Cost Nation", page D2. The Washington Post, June 18, 1911
  6. ^ Virginia.edu
  7. ^ Life and Times of an American Hobo Life and Times of an American Hobo
  8. ^ Conover, Ted (1984). Rolling Nowhere. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-60319-0 [page needed]
  9. ^ a b c d Moon, Gypsy: "Done and Been", page 24. Indiana University Press, 1996.
  10. ^ Bruns, Roger (1980). Knights of the Road: A Hobo History. New York: Methuen Inc. p. 201. ISBN 0-416-00721-X.
  11. ^ Moon, Gypsy: "Done and Been", page 198. Indiana University Press, 1996.
  12. ^ "QR Code Stencil Generator and QR Hobo Codes". F.A.T., Free Art and Technology Lab. 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  13. ^ "Tourist Union 63". National Hobo Museum. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ ISBN 978-0-87745-251-5
  15. ^ ISBN 978-1-882792-76-4
  16. ^ "Monte Holm Dead at 89". Original Nickel Hobo Society. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  17. ^ Tucson Citizen Morgue
  18. ^ "Down and Out in Paris and London". Retrieved 2012-12-07.[dead link]
  19. ^ "Louis L'amour: A brief biography". louislamour.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
  20. ^ Van Ronk, Dave. The Mayor of MacDougal Street. 2005.
  21. ^ "Dale Wasserman, 94; Playwright Created 'Man of La Mancha'" obituary by Dennis McLellan of the Los Angeles Times, printed in The Washington Post December 29, 2008.
  22. ^ Here Comes Your Man
Further reading
  1. Brady, Jonann (2005). "Hobos Elect New King and Queen". ABC Good Morning America, includes Todd "Ad Man" Waters' last ride as reigning Hobo King plus hobo slide show with Adman’s photo’s taken on the road.
  2. Bannister, Matthew (2006). "Maurice W Graham 'Steam Train', Grand Patriarch of America's Hobos who has died aged 89". Last Word. BBC Radio. Matthew Bannister talks to fellow King of the Hobos "Ad Man" Waters and to obituary editor of The New York Times, Bill McDonald.
  3. Davis, Jason (2007). "The Hobo", On The Road 30 minute special. KSTP television. Covers "Ad Man" Waters taking his daughter out on her first freight ride.
  4. Harper, Douglas (2006)[1986]. "Waiting for a Train", Excerpt from Good Company: A Tramp Life ISBN 978-1-59451-184-4
  5. Johnson, L. Anderson. "Riding The Rails For The Homeless". The New York Times. July 12, 1983, sec B page 3, col 3. Story on "Ad Man" Waters The Penny Route.
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