hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Jonathan Lighter]

As good a guess as any.  It would connect it to (orig. Eng. dial.) "bo,"
'boy, usu. in direct address.'

HDAS/OED cites begin only in 1889, from the Northwest. By the early
'90s "hobo" seems to have been fairly current, though not outside railroad
and hobo circles.

JL

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:23 PM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> JL wrote, inter alia:
>
> ....It's especially interesting since the ety. of "hobo" remains
> unknown.....
>
> ****
>
> For what it may be worth, the earliest known usage--at least the earliest
> one mentioned on ads-l--of "hobo" offers a (proposed) etymology.
>
> St. Paul daily globe., November 30, 1885, Page 8, Image 9 col. 1 -2
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1885-11-30/ed-1/seq-9/;words=tramp+Hobo+HOBO+Tramp?date1=1836&rows=20&searchType=advanced&proxdistance=5&date2=1885&ortext=&proxtext=tramp+hobo&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=0
>
> After mention of Hennepin County, etc., in  the section "thieves'
> Vocabulary":
>
> ....An overcoat is a "Ben." Hobo is a call to attract attention, the same
> as Hello in the average citizen's vernacular. It is pronounced with the
> long sound of the vowel, o, in both syllables, and is sometimes uttered
> with the aspirate omitted, as "Obo," and is the shibboleth of the
> fraternity of bums and crooks. It s now commonly applied by them as a
> generic term to designate he order....
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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