hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Jonathan Lighter]

Just as a reminder, "homeless person" didn't become the preferred term till
the 1980's.
HDAS shows (IIRC) that "hobo" and "bum" were frequently synonymous a
hundred years ago, and I'm not quite certain that the usage reported here
is any different.

"Hobo" song of ca1920 or before:

Old Jay Gould said before he died,
I'll fix the blinds so the bums can't ride.
And if they ride they'll ride the rods,
And trust their lives to the hands of God.

The railroad magnate Jay Gould died in 1892.

JL
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 3:27 PM, Indigo Som <indigo at well.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Indigo Som <indigo at WELL.COM>
> Subject:      hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I first heard of this use of "hobo" among the youngsters around 2 years
> ago when my spouse reported that her sister's middle-school-age kids were
> saying it. We (in our mid40s) found it very puzzling. It seems the kids
> (who live in Silicon Valley) say "hobo" where we would probably say
> "homeless person". Just another data point for y'all.
>
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