Editing Hobo (section)

==Etymology==

The origin of the term is unknown. According to etymologist [[Anatoly Liberman]], the only certain detail about its origin is the word was first noticed in [[American English]] circa 1890.<ref name="oup"/> The term has also been dated to 1889 in the [[Western United States|Western]]—probably [[Northwestern United States|Northwestern]]—[[United States]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/on-the-road-again.html|title=On the road again|publisher=Grammarphobia Blog|date=July 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505031550/http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/07/on-the-road-again.html|archive-date=May 5, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> and to 1888.<ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hobo Hobo] Merriam-Webster. Retrieved November 16, 2021.</ref> Liberman points out that many [[folk etymology|folk etymologies]] fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?"<ref name="oup"/> Author [[Todd DePastino]] mentions possible derivations from "[[hoe (tool)|hoe]]-boy", meaning "farmhand", or a greeting "Ho, boy", but that he does not find these convincing.<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/143783in.html Interview with Todd DePastino, author of ''Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America''] from the [[University of Chicago Press]] website</ref> [[Bill Bryson]] suggests in ''[[Made in America (book)|Made in America]]'' (1998) that it might come from the [[railroad]] greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a [[syllabic abbreviation]] of "homeward bound".<ref name="Smith 2009">{{Cite book | last=Bryson | first=Bill | author-link=Bill Bryson | title=Made in America | year=1998 | no-pp=yes | isbn=978-0380713813 | page=[https://archive.org/details/madeinamericainf00brys/page/161 161] | publisher=Transworld Publishers Limited | title-link=Made in America (book) }}</ref> It could also come from the words "homeless boy" or "homeless [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]]". [[H. L. Mencken]], in his ''[[The American Language]]'' (4th ed., 1937), wrote:

<blockquote>Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but in their own sight they are sharply differentiated. A ''hobo'' or ''bo'' is simply a migratory laborer; he may take some longish holidays, but soon or late he returns to work. A ''tramp'' never works if it can be avoided; he simply travels. Lower than either is the ''bum'', who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zh7Ma1SCthQC&pg=PA581|title=The American Language: An Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States|last=Mencken|first=H.L.|year=2000|author-link=H. L. Mencken|publisher=Knopf|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0394400754|publication-date=2006}}</ref></blockquote>