hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Jonathan Lighter]

As I leraned it, the hobo was the migratory worker, the tramp the migratory
nonworker.

BTW, "migrant worker" has long been preferred.  Birds are migratory, so
"migratory" must show disrespect.  (Birds can also be "migrants," but
perhaps the public is less conscious of that.)
OED has "migratory laborer" from 1911, "migrant worker" amusingly only from
1999.

JL
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 11:17 AM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> <
JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
>              <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> Subject:      Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I once ran across the following and have used it ever since to govern my
> own usage:
>
> A tramp is a migratory worker.
> A hobo is a migratory non-worker.
> A bum is a non-migratory non-worker.
>
>     - James A. Landau
>
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