Timeline for Why did hobos (at least stereotypically) carry their belongings in a cloth on a stick on their shoulder?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| May 23, 2020 at 23:14 | comment | added | Tom Au | @sempaiscuba: It's not a matter of "always." It's question of "when and why." In this case, it was mostly in the second half of the 19th century and in the states of the Great Plains, basically the frontier. More established regions, e.g. the eastern "Midwest" was well supplied with tools. But the further from Chicago, the less well supplied. Most farmers provided "heavy" tools such as picks and shovels but were often short of hoes. These were light tools that "hobos" could easily carry around. It's like saying today, the company will provide "mainframes" but you need a phone computer JIC. | |
| May 23, 2020 at 22:05 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | Did agricultural labourers really carry their own tools (like hoes) in the US in the 19th century? I've always assumed they were provided by the farmers (which is why inventories compiled when wills were being proved often list so many of each type of implement in farm stores). | |
| May 23, 2020 at 14:09 | history | edited | Tom Au | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 23, 2020 at 11:41 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | In fact, what Todd DePastino said in the interview cited as source by Wikipeida was: "Where did the word "hobo" come from? I've not found a convincing explanation. Some say it derives from the term "hoe-boy," meaning farm hand, or "homo bonus," meaning "good man." Others speculate that men shouted "Ho, Boy!" to each other on the road. One particularly literate wayfarer insisted the term came from the French "haut beau"." (my emphasis) | |
| May 23, 2020 at 1:01 | history | edited | Tom Au | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 22, 2020 at 22:12 | comment | added | Pieter Geerkens | The fanciful inventions of one author, 150 years after the fact and without any attestations in literature, are not support no matter how much you would like the hypothesis to be true. For all you know Postino wrote that into the Wiki article himself to publicize his book. | |
| May 22, 2020 at 21:36 | comment | added | Tom Au | @PieterGeerkens: From Wikipedia: "Author Todd DePastino has suggested it may be derived from the term hoe-boy." It is not "wholly unsupported." Added author's name to my post. | |
| May 22, 2020 at 21:35 | history | edited | Tom Au | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 22, 2020 at 21:30 | history | edited | Tom Au | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| May 22, 2020 at 21:24 | comment | added | Pieter Geerkens | Your alleged etymology is wholly unsupported both by Wikipedia and Webster's. | |
| May 21, 2020 at 15:33 | history | answered | Tom Au | CC BY-SA 4.0 |