Where did the word 'Hobo' come from?

Answer 1

short for HOmeless BOzzo

Answer 2

The origin of Hobo is not confirmed, though there are popular theories.

Author Todd DePastino has suggested that it may come from the term hoe-boy meaning "farm hand", or a greeting such as Ho, boy! [1]. Bill Bryson suggests that it could either come from the railroad greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a contraction of "homeward bound". Others have said that the term comes from the Manhattan intersection of HOuston and BOwery, where itinerant people once used to congregate; or from the Japanese word hōbō meaning "in all directions." (It's worth noting that "hobo," a similar-sounding Japanese word, means "high school teacher.")

Still another theory of the term's origins is that it derives from the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, which was a terminus for many railroad lines in the 19th century. The word "hobo" may also be a shortening of the phrase which best describes the early hobo's method of transportation, which was "hopping boxcars."

Answer 3

For two centuries, in both England and America, homeless wanderers from place to place had been known as tramps. Then an unknown American came up with a new word for them: hobo. Researcher Barry Popik has found it used in a breezy letter from New York City in the New Orleans Picayune of August 19, 1848: "Well, here I am once more in Gotham, after three years' absence--three years which have passed as agreeably as time usually passes with people in this digging world. During that period I have floated about and circulated round to some considerable extent.... a year's bronzing and 'ho-boying' about among the mountains of that charming country called Mexico, has given me a slight dash of the Spanish."

Where this odd word came from nobody knows for sure, but the "slight dash of the Spanish" gives a hint. It could be borrowed from the Spanish hobo, or jobo, a word which appeared in print as far back as 1516. This word, in turn, comes from the Taino Indian language spoken in the West Indies and refers to a tree that grows there. How could a tree become a tramp? Well, over the centuries Spanish jobo acquired other more relevant meanings. In Mexico jobo can refer to a Guatemalan; in Cuba, correr jobos means "to play truant." So to avoid the taint of the term tramp, an American wanderer might be happy to adopt the exotic hobo.

Answer 4

I like HOping BOxcars

Answer 5

came from way back when there was no work men would show up on train s and a farmer would say ok i need ten hoe boy s , over time it got shorter to ho bo that would ride the train s

Answer 6

i thought tramp refers to females, which makes hobo more explicitly male.

Answer 7

Your dad

Answer 8

hobosexual-originally it was pronounced homosexual, but Webster had a cold that day and they thought he said hobosexual. you're welcome, now gimme points.