Comments on: Are you a hobo?

Are you a hobo?

owhydididoit — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 23:31:46 -0800

What is a hobo? Hoboes is a name coined for men and women, but almost exclusive men that travel as migrant workers or left their friends and family in the depression or after wars when there was no work for them in their home cities. What do hoboes do nowadays? Apparently, they travel. And blog about it.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 23:36:03 -0800

If you like maps/charts, check out his beaches page, although some of the content is surreal.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 23:46:33 -0800

When will somebody care about us noboes?

By: Slarty Bartfast

Slarty Bartfast — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:09:54 -0800

Please don't push your hobosexual agenda here.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:23:58 -0800

Haven't read the links yet. Just wanted to give the poster props on their user name.

By: liquorice

liquorice — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:41:20 -0800

And here I was calling homeless people hobos! My bad.

By: Clamwacker

Clamwacker — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:53:28 -0800

With a travel budget like that, it's pretty hard to imagine he has to stoop so low as to actually look for jobs while he's jet-setting around the globe.

By: Hat Maui

Hat Maui — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:02:04 -0800

700 hobo names by John Hodgman Drawings of 700 hoboes

By: mkhall

mkhall — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 07:50:48 -0800

Hobo signs & symbols

By: caddis

caddis — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:31:35 -0800

Hobo Nickels

By: hobocode

hobocode — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 09:43:04 -0800

Just passing through....

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 10:17:30 -0800

Excellent inspirational links, thanks for turning me on to this guy ohwhydididoit.

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 10:29:16 -0800

thanks y'all!

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:00:25 -0800

owhydididoit, Wonderful post! Definitely a fav. Ever since I was a little rascal the idea of hobos and their lives interested me. I used to play a game, making a bindle (using my baby sister's clean diaper), with a picnic in it and go out on an afternoon adventure with my younger brother. Always loved trains, Jack Kerouac's On The Road, singing Rock Candy Mountain and am drawn by the allure of that lifestyle, as hard as it must be. Andy the Hobo's site is excellent. Great photographs and tons of them taken as a visual log. And useful travelling info too. I think his best beaches idea is also good. Wish he'd publish his findings. Landlocked countries can have beaches on the shores of big lakes. Even Afghanistan. Enjoyed the additional links in this thread too.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:46:48 -0800

wonderful stuff, but it's not really hobo-ing if you have money or can make 4k on a webpage, is it? It kinda cheapens the name and legend of hoboes, no?

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 12:54:50 -0800

One definition of a hobo: VAGABOND: A person without a permanent home who moves from place to place; wanderer. Andy the "hobo traveler" says the Hobo is penniless and poor, and lives by his or her wits from a day to day existence and the future is not important because they have to normally make the cheap choice, and not the best choice. They are pragmatic and accept the reality that they are not rich and they must accept the way they must travel from place to place. He also says about himself and other hoboes: I am just a traveler without a home. I appreciate their free spirit, but also understand the loneliness, and possibly the life of a Hobo with no future. There are lot of Hoboes in the world that neither can return to their homes, do not remember how to return home, and when they do return, find they must leave for the road calls, and they only feel complete when they are traveling.

By: fandango_matt

fandango_matt — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 22:32:04 -0800

posted by owhydididoit Hoboes is a name coined for men and women, but almost exclusive men that travel as migrant workers or left their friends and family in the depression or after wars when there was no work for them in their home cities. I think "Hobo" origininated as a term for farm workers who migrated from job to job, carrying their belongings in a knapsack attached to the end of their garden tool--a hoe; and so these young men were called "Hoe Boys," which was subsequently shortened to "Hobo".

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:12:30 -0800

Landlocked countries can have beaches on the shores of big lakes. Good point.

By: drstein

drstein — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:07:27 -0800

Remember "warchalking?" they used a lot of the hobo symbols. I've never actually seen hobo symbols, even along railroad lines.