Lower than either is the bum, who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police. A tramp never works if it can be avoided he simply travels. A hobo or bo is simply a migratory laborer he may take some longish holidays, but soon or late he returns to work. Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but in their own sight they are sharply differentiated. Mencken, in his The American Language (4th ed., 1937), wrote: It could also come from the words "homeless boy" or "homeless Bohemian". Bill Bryson suggests in Made in America (1998) that it could either come from the railroad greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a syllabic abbreviation of "homeward bound". Liberman points out that many folk etymologies fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?" Author Todd DePastino notes that some have said that it derives from the term "hoe-boy", coming from the hoe they are using and meaning "farmhand", or a greeting such as "Ho, boy", but that he does not find these to be convincing explanations.
The term has also been dated to 1889 in the Western-probably Northwestern- United States, and to 1888. According to etymologist Anatoly Liberman, the only certain detail about its origin is the word was first noticed in American English circa 1890.
Hoboes, tramps, and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible a bum neither travels nor works. 1880s–1930s)Ī hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Two hoboes, one carrying a bindle, walking along railroad tracks after being put off a train ( c.
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