Is HOBSON another name for the devil?

Answer 1

No, why would you think so?

From Oxford English Dictionary - Hobson's choice is taking what is offered or nothing at all.
ORIGIN named after Thomas Hobson (1554-1631), a carrier who hired out horses, making the customer take the one nearest the door or none at all

Answer 2

Hobson might know the devil but I doubt that the devil would know Hobson.
Hobsons Choice - which I assume you are alluding to, simply means that whichever choice you make will probably be the wrong one.
I think that an earlier answerer gave you a history of Hobson. I, too, would be interested to know!

Answer 3

Yes, but no in the expression Hobson's choice, where about 200 years ago Hobson was an ostler and innkeeper who never had more than one horse for travellers to use in exchange for their own exhausted nags after they rolled up at his coaching-inn.

Answer 4

no hobson's choice is not about a bad or evil choice.
Hobson's choice - means no choice at all- having someone make your choice for you for example.

it is based on a fictional character and was made in to a great film with john mills.

Answer 5

Hobson's choice


In colloquial English, a Hobson's choice is an apparently free choice that is really no choice at all.

The first written reference to the source of the phrase is in Joseph Addison's paper, The Spectator (14 October 1712). It also appears in Thomas Ward's poem England's Reformation, written in 1688, but not published until after his death. Ward writes:

Where to elect there is but one, 'tis Hobson's choice — take that or none.
The phrase originates from Thomas Hobson (1544–1630), who lived in Cambridge, England. Hobson was a stable manager renting out horses to travelers; the site of his stables is now part of St. Catharine's College. After customers began requesting particular horses again and again, Hobson realized certain horses were being overworked. He decided to begin a rotation system, placing the well-rested horses near the stable door, and refused to let out any horse except in its proper turn. He offered customers the choice of taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all.

Hobson's choice is somewhat different from a Catch-22 situation, where both (or all) choices available contradict each other.

Henry Ford was said to have sold the Ford Model T with the famous Hobson's choice of "Any color so long as it's black". (In reality, the Model T was available in a modest palette of colors, but the rapid production required quick-drying paint, which from 1915-1925 was available in only one color—black.)


Modern usage
Hobson's choice is often used not to mean a false illusion of choice, but simply a choice between two undesirable options. The difference between this and the original meaning of Hobson's choice is subtle, so the confusion is perhaps understandable. For example, if the horse in the stall nearest the door is in poor shape, the traditional usage of Hobson's choice becomes the more common use, since having an unhealthy horse and having no horse at all are both undesirable. This usage is disputed, as a choice between two options, neither of which is acceptable, is more properly called a dilemma.

A modern phrase that more accurately fits Thomas Ward's poem would be the phrase "Take it or leave it". Another common phrase that could be said to generalize Ward’s point is "Beggars can't be choosers".

On occasion, writers alternately use the term "Hobbesian choice" instead of "Hobson's choice", evidently not confusing philosopher Thomas Hobbes for Thomas Hobson, but referring to a specific Hobson's choice offered by Hobbes. The philosopher's famous choice is of an armed robber and "your money or your life" with the serious claim that the person making the choice is fully free.


In politics
Some suggest that voting in a two-party system, like that of the United States, is Hobson's choice. They believe that two candidates typically have far more similarities than dissimilarities, and that in fact the two-party system gives the candidates an incentive to be as similar as possible, in order to appeal to as many centrist or "swing" voters as possible.


In law
Then-Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist used the term in his dissenting opinion in City of Philadelphia v. New Jersey (1978), 437 U.S. 617, and in citing a lower court ruling in his majority opinion in Upjohn Co. v. United States (1981), 449 U.S. 383.

Justice White, in the case of Chadha and the INS v. The House of Representatives, 462 U.S. 919 (1983), used the term in his dissent. In using it, he was arguing that denying the House of Representatives the power to place veto provisions over the administrative agencies responsible for enacting the laws passed would leave the House with the Hobson's choice of either refraining from delegating the necessary authority, or abdicating its law-making function to the executive branch and independent agencies.

Justice Souter, in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, used the term in his dissent, arguing that families with school vouchers were presented with a Hobson's choice of applying their voucher toward the tuition of any school, secular or religious, regardless of the fact that 82% of all private schools in the Cleveland City School District were parochial schools.

The Maryland Court of Appeals used the term and explained its origins as applied to a jury's decision-making ability when a prosecutor's unwillingness to pursue a lesser-included offense (e.g. second-degree murder or manslaughter), requiring a jury to convict a defendant of the greater crime (e.g. first-degree murder) or nothing at all. See Hook v. State, 315 Md. 25, 28 (1989

Answer 6

No. actual Wicca skill "The Craft of the sensible". it really is an earth-depending faith that worships a Goddess and God, or Lord and woman, or surely a "prevalent Spirit". Wiccan's are chance free those who follow the necessary tenant of "damage None". in addition they don't position self assurance in any excellent evil being and likely do not position self assurance in devil and Hell. it really is a Christian theory that Wiccans do not position self assurance in.

Answer 7

The Siwanoy tribe in the northeastern US refer to the devil as "Hobommock". That's the closest I've heard to your reference.

Answer 8

I think what you mean is Hob. That is an old (medieval) term for the devil.

Answer 9

Just Hob, I think.

Rewrite that: 'Old Hobb' is the phrase I was looking for.

Answer 10

Not that I know of, but it is the name of a tiger