hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Baker, John]

        "Migrant worker" and "hobo" have very different associations in my mind.  I think of "migrant workers" as people who travel seasonally for agricultural work.  They may have families and vehicles.  They are often, but not always, immigrants.  I think of "hoboes" as men (or older boys) who travel from place to place, perhaps hopping freight trains or hitch-hiking, and support themselves by whatever work is available (not necessarily agricultural work) or by handouts.  Hoboes do not have vehicles or families (at least not families who travel with them), but there is a large element of choice in their lifestyle, and they may subsequently settle down and become respectable.  This usage is essentially historical; hoboes were on their way out when "King of the Road" was written in 1964.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2012 1:04 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org