Talk:Hobo

Semi-protection

There's a lot of IP vandalism, I put in a request for indefinite semi-protection. Larryisgood (talk) 14:06, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

And they did, any support for making this permanent? Larryisgood (talk) 16:40, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Hobo symbols

Markings by Algiers Ferry

Hobo or tramp markings bAlgiers, Louisiana entrance to the death to all across the the afgan river to Canal Street, New Orleans. "X" = "OK", slashed circle "A good way to go"? What about the rest? Wondering, -- Infrogmation 02:00, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion for expanding article

Hello, I was just checking out the main page, and noticed there is no "hobos now", or "hobos in North America today" section. Fact of the matter is, there is a huge explosion in tent cities and homeless in USA, and obviously the same dynamic as in the 1930s Great Depression, e.g. massive economic downturn, super hi layoffs equals more and more hobos and homeless. Man, San Francisco is full of homeless vagrants, as is Portland, Oregon. Fact of the matter is there is a HUGE homeless encampment by the PDX Portland Airport. There are loads of folks living out of their cars nowadays, or in friend's cars. The term hobo applies to these folks today facing such hard times, going city to city by train, hitchhike, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.7.5.132 (talk) 01:36, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Kings in disguise

I'd like to add the reference to the (great) graphic novel Kings in disguise, by James Vance and Dan Burr [1], winner of the 1989 Eisner Award [2].

Filobus 21:50, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

== Notable people who have raped ==

Your list of “Notable people who have hoboed” might add Eric Hoffer. Hobo are very wierd people................... Regarding "Tassos"; the word links to the Wikipedia article, but the external link seems to go to a porn site. Can someone check this out and fix it? Turmarion 22:36 4 October 2007 (EDT) —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 02:38, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

May want to include Christopher McCandless under notable people who have hoboed. (Source "Into the Wild") —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.198.194.8 (talk) 01:52, 29 October 2007

Sociology of the Hobo

The following books are from a Hobo bibliograpy I've created over the past 20 years.

• Adman Waters, Hobo King, 2004-05
• Allsop, Kenneth. 1967. Hard Travellin': The Hobo and His History, New York: New American Library, 448 pages. Includes eight leaves of plates, illustrations, portraits, bibliography.
• Anderson, Nels. 1975. The American Hobo, Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill.- 1923. The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man, reprinted 1967, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 296 pages. Includes illustrations and bibliography.
• Barth, Charles P. 1969. Hobo Trail to Nowhere, Philadelphia: Whitmore Publishing Co., 150 pages.
• Benson, Benjamin. 1942. Hoboes of America: Sensational Life Story and Epic of Life on the Road.- 1942. 500,000 Miles Without a Dollar, New York. A version of this appeared as "How To Go To California Without a Dollar" in the February 1937 issue of Hobo News [see Hobo News].
• Brooks, Oscar Dexter Legs, An authentic Story of Life on the Road
• Bruns, Roger. 1987. The Damndest Radical : The Life and World of Ben Reitman, Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 332 pages. Includes 18 pages of plates, illustrations, index, and bibliography.- 1980. Knights of the Road: A Hobo History, New York: Methuen, 214 pages. Includes illustrations, hobo dictionary and selected bibliography.
• Chaplin, Ralph. 1948. Wobbly: The Rough-and-Tumble Story of an American Radical, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 435 pages with portraits. An autobiography.
• Conover, Ted. 1984. Rolling Nowhere: A Young Man's Adventures Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes, New York, NY: Viking Press, 274 pages. Includes two pages of plates and a journey map.
• Davis, William Henry.-1897. The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, London: McKenzie Flowers & Co. Reprinted 1917, New York, NY: A. A. Knopf, 345 pages; 1942, 1952,-London: Jonathan Cape, 318 pages, with preface by G. Bernard Shaw. 1926.-The Adventures of Johnny Walker, Tramp, London: J. Cape.1936, 256pp.- . The Collected Poems of...1928. Welshman Davies (1871-1940) was a professional tramp turned writer whose works, such as his Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1907), were championed by the likes of Bernard Shaw.
• Dixon, Winifred Hawkridge 1923 Westward hoboes: ups and downs of frontier motoring. Photographs by Katherine Thaxter and Rollin Lester Dixon Charles Scribner's Sons New York, NY
• Douglass, William O. 1974. Go East, Young Man, New York: Dell Publishing Company.
• Duffy, Bruce. 1989. "Catching a Westbound Freight," Harper's Magazine, June, pp. 49-61.
• Edge, William. 1927. The Main Stem, New York: Vanguard Press.212p
• Etulain, Richard, editor. 1977. Jack London on the Road: The Tramp Diary and other Hobo Writings, Logan: Utah State University Press, 209 pages. Includes two leaves of plates, illustrations, and bibliographical references.
• F Hopkinson Smith 1896 A Gentleman Vagabond Houghton Mifflin
• Flynt, Josiah 1899 Tramping with Tramps - Studies and sketches of vagabond life published by The Century Co., N.Y.
• Foster, Harry L. 1922 The Adventures of a Tropical Tramp New York published by Dodd, Mead & Co. Illustrated by with photographs by author
• Fox, Elmer. 1989. Tales of an American Hobo, Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 226 pages. Preface by Albert A. Stone, introduction by Lynne M. Adrian [see Adrian]. Includes bibliographic references.
• Fried, Frederick. 1964. No Pie in the Sky; The Hobo as American Cultural Hero in the works of Jack London (1876-1916), John Dos Passos (1896-1970), and Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), New York: Citadel Press, 95 pages with a bibliography.
• Garahan, Melbourne. 1924. Stiffs, New York: T. Seltzer, 311 pages.
• Gordon, John 1927 Tramp Printer, The The Gordon Press, South Brewer, Maine, "Woodcut" illustration on cover. Illustrated with photo of author and caricatures. Stories, anecdotes, and verse about tramp printers.
• Graham Maury Steam Train and Robert J. Hemming. 1990. Tales of the Iron Rod: My Life as King of the Hobos, New York: Paragon House, 222 pages.- 1985. A History of Hoboes, Tramps, and other Vagabonds, Toledo, OH: Graham.
• Guthrie, Woody. 1943. Bound for Glory, New York, NY: E.P. Dutton. Reprinted 1983, New York: New American Library, 320 pages with illustrations.
• Harper, Douglas A. 1982. Good Company, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. sociologist's experiences traveling with tramps across the country.
• Hicks, John Edward 1950 Adventures of a tramp printer; 1880-1890. Midamericana Press Kansas City 285p., first edition, slightly chipped dj with tape repairs on verso. Hicks, a writer, editor, and one-time ITU field rep, takes a wild swing through the midwest of the gilded age---the Haymarket Affair, a lynching and riot in Cincinnati, the Anaconda strike, and more
• Hopkinson Smith, F. 1895 A Gentleman Vagabond and Some Others Cambridge: Riverside Press,
• Jackson, Jason. 1957. Overland Slim the Maverick; The Seven Ages of the Eventful Life of a Genuine American Hobo, New York: Greenwich Book Publishers, 99 pages.
• Kemp, Harry.-1922. Tramping on Life, New York: Boni and Liveright. Reprinted 1927, Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co.- 1914. The Cry of Youth, New York: Mitchell, Kennerly
• Kerouac, Jack. 1960. Lonesome Traveler, New York: McGraw-Hill. Reprinted 1989, New Evergreen edition, New York: Grove Press, copyright 1988, 183 pages.- 1960. "The Vanishing American Hobo," Holiday, March, p.60.- 1955. On the Road, New York: The Viking Press.
• Kerr, James. 1930. Backdoor Guest, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co. Reminiscenses of a hobo life in America in the 1920's. Jacket cover(in green, red, yellow and orange) depicts a long freight train with 2 hobos(one, a black man) riding atop a freight car. Fine copy in nearly fine dj. (abe description)
• Kromer, Tom. 1935. Waiting for Nothing, New York: Hill & Wang. Reprinted 1968, American Century Series AC89, 187 pages.
• Leeflang, Gerard. 1984. American Travels of a Dutch Hobo, 1923-1926, Ames: Iowa State University Press, 162 pages.
• Leen, Daniel. 1992. The Freight Hopper's Manual for North America: Hoboing In The 21st Century, Seattle: Ecodesigns Northwest Publishers, 112 pages. Contact: Daniel Leen, 1928 S. Graham St. Seattle, WA 981081.
• Littlejohn, Duffy. 1993. Hopping Freight Trains in America, Los Osos, CA: Sand River Press, 354 pages. Includes 70 photos, index, and bibliography.
• Livingston, Leon Ray (A#1). 1917. From Coast to Coast with Jack London, by A-no 1, The Famous Tramp, Written by Himself from Personal Experiences, fifth edition, Erie, PA: The A-no 1 Publishing Company, 136 pages. Includes facsimiles, and illustrations. Reprinted 1969, Grand Rapids, MI: Black Letter Press.-1921. Here and There with A-No. 1, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1919. How I Won My Wife, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1919. The Ways of the Hobo, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1919. The Curse of Tramp Life, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1916. The Snare of the Road, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1916. The Life and Adventures of A-No. 1, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1916. Hobo Camp Fire Tales, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1916. The Adventures of a Female Tramp, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.- 1916. The Mother of the Hobos, Erie, PA: A-No. 1 Publishing Co.
• London, Jack. - 1907. The Road, New York: The MacMillan Company.- 1907. "Hoboes That Pass in the Nights," The Cosmopolitan, December, pp. 190-97.- 1905. War of the Classes, New York: Macmillan. Reprinted 1970, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Literature House, 278 pages.- 1979. Jack London on the Road: The Tramp Diary and Other Hobo Writings, edited by Richard W. Etulain, Utah State University Press.
• Lummis, Charles Fletcher. 1892. A Tramp Across the Continent, New York: C. Scribner. Reprinted 1906, C. Scribner's Sons, 270 pages.
• Maharidge, Dale. 1985. Journey to Nowhere: the Saga of the New Underclass, Garden City, N.Y.: Dial Press, 192 pages. Includes illustrations, and photographs by Michael Williamson.
• Mathers, Michael 1973 RIDING THE RAILS Boston Gambit.
• Michael Williamson 1993. The Last Great American Hobo, Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 278 pages. Includes illustrations, photographs and index. (abe description)
• McMurry, Donald. 1929. Coxey's Army, Seattle: University of Washington Press, reprinted in 1968.
• Meriwether, Lee. 1889. The Tramp at Home, New York: Harper & Brothers, 296 pages. Metzger, Wendell. 1994. Hobo Story, Manhattan Beach, CA: Softspin Press, 108 pages. Contact: Softspin Press, Box 277, Manhattan Beach, CA 90267-0277.
• Milburn, George.1930a. The Hobo's Hornbook: A Repertory for a Gutter Jongleur, New York: Ives Washburn.
• Minehan, Thomas.- 1941. Lonesome Road: The Way of Life of a Hobo, Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson & Co. - 1934. Boy and Girl Tramps of America, New York: Farrar and Rinehart.
• Monkkonen, Eric H. ed. 1984. Walking to Work: Tramps in America 1790-1935, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
• Mullin, Glen Hawthorne. 1925. Adventures of a Scholar-Tramp, New York and London: The Century Co.- 1923. "Adventures of a Scholar-Tramp," Century, February / March, pp. 507-15; 735-59.
• Payne, Roger 1939 Why work? Or the coming "age of leisure and plenty." Why work six days a week, when you can make your living by working one?. Meador Publishing Company Boston 404p., front., Self-styled hobo philosopher
• O'Connell, Pamela LiCalzi. 1998. A Different Breed of Freighthoppers, New York Times, Aug. 20
• O.,Jesse 1996 American Railroad Hobo:The Travels of Wade Hampton Fullbright-A Collection of Short Stories Ballington Books Anderson,N.C. 1st Edition Hardbound V-Fine Illus B&W Photos,Maps 8vo, 199,
• Patric, John 1945 YANKEE HOBO IN THE ORIENT.Florence OR Frying Pan Creek.
• Reitman, Ben L. (as told to). 1937. Sister of the Road: The Autobiography of Box-Car Bertha as Told to Dr. Ben L. Reitman, New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
• SANDBURG, CARL 1927 AMERICAN SONGBAG HARCOURT BRACE
• Schockman, Carl. 1937. We Turned Hobo, Columbus, OH: F.J. Heer Printing Co.
• STEAMTRAIN MAURY GRAHAM 1967 Tales Of The Irion Road My Life As King Of The Hobos PARAGON HOUSE
• Terkel, Studs. 1970. Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, New York: Pantheon Books. Reprinted 1971, New York: Avon Books.
• Tully, Jim- 1924. Beggars of Life: A Hobo Autobiography, New York: Albert & Charles Boni, and Random House, 336 pages. Also published by Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City, NJ.
• Twain, Mark- 1907 A Tramp Abroad: Volume I New York, NY Harper & Brothers
• VAUGHN, (J.B.) 1975 THE WANDERING YEARS. (Saanichton, British Columbia): Hancock House,. First edition, hardcover issue. Black boards. (iii), 250, (3) pp. Text paper tanned, as usual, else fine in fine jacket. "An Odyssey of the 'Dirty Thirties' - the Hobo Jungles - the logging camps - and the trapper's wilderness." - jacket. BC author's memoirs of hard times and various means of getting by
• Welsh, Herbert 1921 The New Gentlemen of the Road Philadelphia William F. Fell
• Willard, Josiah Flynt. 1968. The Little Brother; A Story of Tramp Life, by Josiah Flynt, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Gregg Press 254 pages. [Originally published ?]- 1899. Tramping With Tramps: Studies and Sketches of Vagabond Life, New York: Century Company. Reprinted 1972, Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith Publishing Corp.
• Williams, Cliff "Oats," editor. 1995. Around the Jungle Fire: A Collection of Original Hobo Poetry, Deerfield, IL: Hobo Press, 44 pages.
• Williamson, Michael & Maharidge, Dale ( "Montana Blackie" )1993 Last Great American Hobo, The Prima, CA o/s h/c w/ dj; 8-1/2 x 9-1/2"; 278 pp; profusely illus.w/full-pg.B&W glossy photos, & map on bank endpaper; Williamson photos, Maharidge text; gilt-lettered blk.qtr.cloth over beige boards; B&W photographic dj; As New, in protective clear mylar sleeve. .... In 1928 as a teenage lark, a boy hopped a freight train... then rode through the Great Depression, in search of work, earning the moniker "Montana Blackie".... In 1988, Blackie was still on the road, probably the last active Depression-era Hobo.... moving account of a way of life out of time and place, but more and more common now, as the homeless meet up with the hobos, and the old ways of the hobo's creed are forgotten
• Woirol, Gregory R. 1992. In the Floating Army, F.C. Mills on Itinerant Life in California, 1914, Univ. of Illinois Press.
• Worby, John. 1942. The Other Half: The Autobiography of a Tramp, New York: Arden Book Company, 307 pages with illustrations.
• Wormser, Richard. 1994. Hoboes: Wandering in America 1870-1940, Walker Publishing Company. Includes hobo dictionary, index, and bibliography.
• Wren, Daniel A. 1987. White Collar Hobo: The Travels of Whiting Williams, Ames: Iowa State University Press, 165 pages. Includes portraits, index, and bibliography.
• Wyckoff, Walter Augustus. 1901. A Day with a Tramp and Other Days, New York: C. Scribner. Reprinted 1971, New York: B. Blom, 191 pages.

You might want to add this classical sociological enquiry into the Hobo's habits: "Niels Andersen, The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1923)."

"I believe" this is original research

"...has more self-respect, is usually young, and may, I believe, be called a tramp in the first stage..."

Not necessarily original research, but it sure sounds like personal opinion not fit for encyclopedia. It shouldn't be like this, right? I would fix it myself if I knew anything of the subject matter. --M.A. 10:20, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I have been riding the high iron for the past 18 years and recently settled down for the birth of my son. I can speak to what I 'know', but I am not a professor and the term encyclopedia seems to imply the need for such. We have three (03) levels in our subculture. The hobo (and here most of the old timers I rode with told me it came from ho boy which dealt w/hoeing a row for pay) will work his way across the country via the rails. It is KEY to note that you won't be welcomed in ANY real hobo camp if you're a slacker! The tramp will occassionally use the rails to roam around for somewhere to run sign or panhandle and the homeguard (I believe this is what ya'll call the bum) simply stays put in one area burning it out for their booze and such. My group, International Brotherhood of Rail Riders states we're hobos right from jump. Suppose it's a pride thing. Not only did my father (who rode for almost a decade as did his father) pound this in my head, but so did the old timers who were decent enough to teach me the ropes. A final note here: I remember a term called 'stiff' which referred to a bindle stiff being used back in the late 80's by the old timers. It traced its roots back to before there really was mechanized harvesting going on and today we sometimes use it about folks who catch on the fly (a moving train) w/little gear---they tend to roll up what personal gear they have in a blanket/sleeping bag like a burrito, tie off each end and then fashion a sling and wear it much like a rifle is carried so as to free up both hands to grab the ladder and hoist themselves up from the stirrup. If this isn't written properly simply delete it as I'm not to educated; I'm simply a hobo.--Ibrrorg (talk) 02:00, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Hobo Code

I came across a website with the hobo code and I found that there was another hobo code. It was: 16.-If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it, whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!

The Link is http://www.hobo.com/hobo_code.htm if anybody wants to check it out. Toby Keet 05:10, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Graphics for Hobo Codes

I think it would be more easy to understand if someone made graphics for each Hobo Code since writen description can be interpretated diferently from reader to reader. Do graphics just like in the warchalk article.

thank you Minako-Chan* 21:05, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Yeah i agree, i might take some time out this summer to read up on them and make some graphics. I'll post here if i start. If anyone else wants to make the graphics go ahead.Larryisgood (talk) 12:00, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Etymology

I see that someone has posted that the Cuban colloquial expression correr jobos might be a source for the American English term. There is no citation for this, and I would hope one would be forthcoming. But it is plausible, except that one wonders how a Cuban expression for truancy or vagrancy would come to the US in the 19th century. A good possibility, but beyond my resources for support at this time, is that the expression was shared across the Gulf region to the Gulf coast of Mexico (where the jobo tree also grows) and from there, along the rails north to the US. The time period is right. And Mexican trackworker (traquero) shantytowns---usually made from old boxcars---were widespread across the Southwest US for decades. It's too bad there are no easily accessible Mexican Spanish etymologies for colloquialisms...or are there? Tmangray (talk) 00:44, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

It is difficult to distinguish much of the Etymology section from “original research”. I strongly encourage the inclusion of a citation for each theory.—SlamDiego_←T 09:01, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Books

The article is locked, and has one book listed twice, can someone remove the former and add a "The" to the latter?

• "The Areas of My Expertise", by John Hodgman
• ...
• Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman - Humor book which features a lengthy section on "hoboes", including a list of 700 hobo names which spawned an online effort to illustrate the complete list.

Thanks!--192.100.124.218 (talk) 12:08, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

hobos live by my house. one of them is my uncle —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.212.110.20 (talk) 18:14, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

• Fishbones by Irving "Fishbones" Stevens was written in 1983 about his life as a hobo in the 1930s and is still available by Amazon.ca --http://www.amazon.ca/Fishbones-Hoboing-Irving-L-Stevens/dp/0960920803--

I'm not sure how to add it with the semi-protection on even with my account being confirmed. DarkestRose (talk) 07:15, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Hobos

Notable Hobos

• Irving "Fishbones" Stevens b. June 21, 1910 d. May 1999, crowned King of the Hobos in 1988, author of two other books and creator of 'Irving's Flydope'- a mixture of pine tar and secret ingredients that kept black flies away, sold through out New England.

--http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E2DE143FF933A25756C0A96F958260-- --http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5037/is_199905/ai_n18280872-- DarkestRose (talk) 07:26, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

someone must surely add Louis Hardin AKA Moondog. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.2.150.233 (talk) 23:06, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Added reference to U Dhammaloka (new WP entry) under "People who have hoboed" - still learning the ropes and forgot to add in summary of changes. Apologies.-Laurence Cox-Laurence Cox (talk) 07:55, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Punctuation

The second sentence under "Hobo Code of Ethics" needs its comma upgraded to a semicolon and its semicolon to a colon.

-Jack Vermicelli 24.247.94.38 (talk) 22:29, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

History - Please fix

Someone put this under history: "It is unclear exactly when homos appeared on the American railraving scene."

Since this page is protected and I usually don't login to make edits, I can't fix this on my own. Thanks!

SilentDude56k (talk) 18:38, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

• Actually, it's much worse. User Mannicle committed vandalism in several places. His entire edit on 10 August 2008 needs to be reverted. I'm not a registered user, so I can't make changes to this protected page (Ironic when you think about it). Sincerely, Stephen Eakin (72.187.72.217 (talk) 20:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC))

Mexican Civil War

"With the end of the Mexican Civil War in the mid 19th Century,"

What exactly is this referring to? Is this talking about the Mexican-American War? Mexican Civil War redirects to Mexican Revolution, which occurred in 1910. Then there's the Mexican War of Independence in 1810-1821, which is in the *early* 19th century, which doesn't say anything about U.S. Soldier involvement and occurred at a time when trains were still in their infancy. 63.87.189.17 (talk) 18:55, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

This was the result of vandalism that occurred on 9 September, and which was not caught, unfortunately. It is now fixed. Thanks for pointing it out. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 02:07, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I would like to make a minor proofreading suggestion, but am an infrequent contributor to Wikipedia. The hobo lexicon has a lay/lie error in the entry on passenger cars (the hobo would LIE on top of the car, rather than "lay").Garybletsch (talk) 01:20, 19 December 2008 (UTC)Gary Bletsch

article seems particularly prone to unreferenced details

I just updated the introduction and etymology sections so that they are based on references. Here's hoping that other editors will continue that approach. 67.100.126.235 (talk) 09:52, 5 August 2009 (UTC).

Hoboken NJ Rail Yards

Back during the 1930's, there was a large switching railyard in Hoboken which sent trains in many directions. The name Hobo might be a derivative of this. 216.153.214.89 (talk) 15:05, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

on the hobo (ethical) code

where is "jungle" defined as a verb? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.58.29.215 (talk) 00:49, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Hobos vs. Tramps vs. Bums

I know there are citations here -- I'm still not buying that the claimed differentiation between the three 'classes' is anything but a recent, ROMANTIC invention. (Also, the way I've heard it, which I prefer is: "A hobo is one who travels (ed: "is a transient"), and does honest labor when necessary; a tramp travels, but won't work (ed:"do honest labor"), and a 'bum' neither works nor travels." (I accept that these definitions may exist as a neologism these days -- and I don't have any doubt that in the world of the, well, poor, that there are always distinctions maintained between social classes. People are people.) -- and now I get my own SMACKDOWN: now that I finally get to the website of the cite given, I see it was Mencken who claimed its use during the Depression. This, boys and girls, is why you verify the cites FIRST. <bows, departs>