hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

[Baker, John]

        Several of these stories share the claim that hoboes greeted one another by saying some version of "hobo," although they disagree as to why.  Did hoboes in the late 19th century actually do this?


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Stephen Goranson
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 1:54 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

The American encyclopædic dictionary, Volume 5 p.2191 offers a somewhat goofy origin story involving two schoolboys "About five years ago" studying Latin in Paducah, Kentucky, "adapting sounds to their own use" including "Hello, bobisbit!" "Finding this form of salutation rather cumbersome to handle in a hurry, they speedily shortened it to "hobo'....others fell to using it...."

Latin class seems  a stretch, but this attempt may have going for it the Hello and Hobo part. Perhaps other searches for hello plus hobo may turn up more.

http://books.google.com/books?id=nfJOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2191&dq=hobo+hello&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lOV5T7CCOYePgwe6p733Dg&ved=0CEUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hobo%20hello&f=false

Stephen

From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 1:34 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] hobo synonymous with panhandler or beggar

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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