Editing Hobo (section)

===Expressions used through the 1940s===

Hoboes were noted for, among other things, the distinctive lingo that arose among them. Some examples follow:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hobo term
! Explanation
|-
| Accommodation car
| the [[caboose]] of a train
|-
| Angellina
| a young inexperienced child
|-
| Bad road
| a train line rendered useless by some hobo's bad action or crime
|-
| Banjo
| (1) a small portable [[frying pan]]; (2) a short, "D"-handled [[shovel]], generally used for shoveling coal
|-
| Barnacle
| a person who sticks to one job a year or more
|-
| Beachcomber
| a hobo who hangs around [[Dock (maritime)|docks]] or [[seaport]]s
|-
| Big house
| [[prison]]
|-
| Bindle stick
| a collection of belongings wrapped in cloth and tied around a stick
|-
| Bindlestiff
| a hobo who carries a bindle
|-
| Blowed-in-the-glass
| a genuine, trustworthy individual
|-
| 'Bo
| the common way one hobo referred to another: "I met that 'bo on the way to Bangor last spring."
|-
| Boil up
| specifically, to boil one's clothes to kill lice and their eggs; generally, to get oneself as clean as possible
|-
| Bone polisher
| a mean [[dog]]
|-
| Bone orchard
| a [[graveyard]]
|-
| Bull
| a railroad officer
|-
| Bullets
| [[bean]]s
|-
| Buck
| a Catholic [[priest]], good for a dollar
|-
| Burger
| today's lunch
|-
| C, H, and D
| indicates an individual is "Cold, Hungry, and Dry" (thirsty)
|-
| California blankets
| [[newspaper]]s, intended to be used for bedding on a park bench
|-
| Calling in
| using another's [[campfire]] to warm up or cook
|-
| Cannonball
| a fast train
|-
| Carrying the banner
| keeping in constant motion so as to avoid being picked up for loitering or to keep from freezing
|-
| Catch the westbound
| to die
|-
| Chuck a dummy
| pretend to faint
|-
| Cooties
| body [[lice]]
|-
| Cover with the moon
| sleep out in the open
|-
| Cow crate
| a railroad stock car
|-
| Crumbs
| lice
|-
| Docandoberry
| anything edible that grows on a riverbank
|-
| Doggin' it
| traveling by [[bus]], especially on the [[Greyhound bus]] line
|-
| Easy mark
| a hobo sign or mark that identifies a person or place where one can get food and a place to stay overnight
|-
| Elevated
| under the influence of drugs or alcohol
|-
| Flip
| to board a moving train
|-
| Flop
| a place to sleep, by extension, "[[flophouse]]", a cheap hotel
|-
| Glad rags
| one's best clothes
|-
| Graybacks
| lice
|-
| Grease the track
| to be run over by a train
|-
| Gump
| a chicken<ref>{{cite book|last=Bruns|first=Roger|title=Knights of the Road: A Hobo History|year=1980|publisher=Methuen Inc.|location=New York|isbn=041600721X|page=[https://archive.org/details/knightsofroadh00brun/page/201 201]|url=https://archive.org/details/knightsofroadh00brun/page/201}}</ref>
|-
| Honey dipping
| working with a shovel in the sewer
|-
| Hot
| (1) a [[fugitive]] hobo; (2) a hot or decent meal: "I could use a hot and a flop"
|-
| Hot shot
| a train with priority freight, stops rarely, goes faster; synonym for "Cannonball"
|-
| Jungle
| an area off a railroad where hoboes camp and congregate
|-
| Jungle buzzard
| a hobo or [[tramp]] who preys on his own
|-
| Knowledge bus
| a [[school bus]] used for shelter
|-
| Maeve
| a young hobo, usually a girl
|-
| Main drag
| the busiest road in a town
|-
| Moniker'' / ''Monica
| a [[nickname]]
|-
| Mulligan stew
| a type of [[community stew]], created by several hoboes combining whatever food they have or can collect
|-
| Nickel note
| a five-dollar bill
|-
| On the fly
| jumping a moving train
|-
| Padding the hoof
| to travel by foot
|-
| Possum belly
| to ride on the roof of a [[Passenger car (rail)|passenger car]] (one must lie flat, on his/her stomach, to avoid being blown off)
|-
| Pullman
| a railroad sleeper car; most were once made by the [[George Pullman]] company
|-
| Punk
| any young kid
|-
| Reefer
| a compression or "[[refrigerator car]]"
|-
| Road kid
| a young hobo who apprentices himself to an older hobo in order to learn the ways of the road
|-
| Road stake
| the small reserve amount of money a hobo may keep in case of an emergency
|-
| Rum dum
| a drunkard
|-
| Sky pilot
| a preacher or minister
|-
| Soup bowl
| a place to get soup, bread and drinks
|-
| Snipes
| cigarette butts "sniped" (e.g., from ashtrays or sidewalks)
|-
| Spare biscuits
| looking for food in a garbage can
|-
| Stemming
| panhandling or begging along the streets
|-
|[[Tokaji|Tokay]] blanket
| drinking alcohol to stay warm
|-
| Yegg
| a traveling professional thief, or burglar
|}

Many hobo terms have become part of common language, such as "big house", "glad rags", "main drag", and others.