"hobo"--plausibility it derived the shout "Ho bo!"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>But the plausibility of the shout "Ho bo!" remains, and that's the heart
>of the matter.

I think it's plausible. However I doubt that "Ho" is simply a contraction
of "Hello".

Plausibility is a start only. It's a very good start if there's only one
plausible theory. Usually IMHO there are several plausible ones, including
some which nobody has put forth. One usually would like to find material
supporting one's theory; perhaps, theoretically, refutation of all
competing theories would suffice in some rare cases.

I suspect that if you can explain "ho-boy" = "nightman" from the 1850's
then you may have a good start on "hobo".

-- Doug Wilson