Hobo signs and symbols

A hobo is a migratory worker or homeless vagabond—especially one who is penniless. The term originated in the Western probably Northwestern United States around

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Hobo signs and symbols

Hoboes used signs, codes if you will to communicate with other hoboes arriving after them conveying the conditions of the town, the people and the availability of work, food and lodging. The only way of passing knowledge of these signs between hoboes was word of mouth. So many signs were altered just due to the loss of detail in the communication of the signs and symbols. Cryptic signs have been around forever. Hobo signs have been around since the fourteenth century in European nations and the 's in America. There isn't a lot of information on the early signs used by hoboes and not all hoboes used the same signs as there wasn't an easy way of communicating these signs across the country. The book claims that there are "thousands of hobo signs for thousands of occasions. We have included fifty-two of them on the following pages. Below please find some examples of Hobo Signs from times past. History of the hobo signs Cryptic signs have been around forever. Mention of the word "fly". Bone, copperhead, gammy and flummixed. Aug 1, Source Image Tramp Signs.

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved May 7,

Resourceful and itinerant, the hobos developed a secret language system, doomed to disappear, to leave clues for their fellow hobos. At the end of the 19th century in the United States, hobos crisscrossed the American territory from East to West, propelled by the expansion of the railways and driven by precariousness, often forced by times of crisis. Homeless workers, they set off in search of seasonal jobs provided by agriculture and the nascent industry of American capitalism, illegally hopping on trains. Vagrants were not welcome in most cities, and were regularly chased away by the police or dragged off trains. By , there were an estimated , hobos in the United States. Resourceful and penniless, they developed a language system inscribed near passing places, destined to disappear , to inform their fellows of the good and bad surprises they might encounter on the road, or simply to mark their passage. He explains that wanderers are "governed in their relationships by unwritten laws and rules, which they respect far more than the laws dictated by 'society', which they describe as annoying".

Dry Town This symbol took the shape of an upside down cup and said that this town did not sell or allow alcohol. Don't try to buy it or even display it if you had it. Owlcation - All Things Hobo [alcohol, booze, liquor]. ANo1, The Rambler [alcohol, booze, liquor]. Terry Fox - Hobo Signs - Sign 27 [alcohol, booze, liquor]. Henry Dreyfuss - Symbol Sourcebook - Sign 33 [alcohol, booze, liquor]. An inverted dipper warns of impending temperance.

Hobo signs and symbols

The origins of the term "Hobo" cannot be traced. A few suggestions have been put forward. Some say it comes from "Hoe Boy" because many migrant workers traveled with a hoe or other farming tool. Others claim it came from the soldiers returning from the Civil War, who were "Homeward Bound. There are even those who say it comes from the Latin Homo Bonus, meaning good man, or the French haut beaux, the highest of the handsome.

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Other symbols are discussed. Interestingly, however, chalk marks similar to the hobo signs sprang up in precisely because of the Internet. However, hobos' paths crossed infrequently, so the hobo community developed a written communication system of signs. Hobo Signs on Gate Posts. But the history of hobos began decades earlier. Project Gutenberg. Help us build the largest human-edited symbols collection on the web! However, this then requires an explanation for the intended user. Coalville, Utah. Story of a hobo who started at age June 14, Self-published: billdaniel. Retrieved October 5, Hobo Signs Hoboes have been leaving signs and symbols around the world for over a century. History of the hobo signs Cryptic signs have been around forever.

They were the nomadic workers who roamed the country at the start of the 20th century and through the Great Depression, taking work wherever they could and never spending too long in any one place. In their extensive travels, hobos learned to leave notes for each other, giving information on the best places to camp or find a meal, or dangers that lay ahead.

Retrieve it. They take pride in this attribute and often travel with the implements of their trade. But when steady work dried up, he did what hundreds of thousands did during the Great Depression : He hopped a freight train. Boston: Gambit. I have met hoboes who, in trying to catch a pal, had pursued clear across the continent and back again, and were still going. This may have been because situations were frequently in flux. That is to say, any attempt at an exhaustive enumeration of hobo ethics is bound to be foiled at least to some extent by the diversity of hoboes and their ideas of the world. Tramp Signs and Habits of Tramps. The Mayor of MacDougal Street. Oxford University Press. Historic Graffiti Society.

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