The Etymology of Hobo According to Stand-up Comics

So, as of late, I have taken to listening to comedy audiobooks.  I think this is the best way to take in a comedian's book, especially if that comedian is of the stand-up variety.

Interestingly, the two books I have most recently listened to provide an etymological history of the word "hobo."  More interestingly, these books provide two conflicting origins.

The first book was Patton Oswalt's Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland, a fantastic book, and well worth the time.  In his essay, "Those Old Hobo Songs, They Still Speak to Us," Oswalt describes the roots of this term as follows: “'hobos' (a slang term that combines the words 'hope' and 'bowl of beans given to me for free by a woman who then initiated intercourse').”

Oswalt's essay is a pseudo-academic (or perhaps not so pseudo) analysis of a few short hobo songs.  It's immensely entertaining and impressive.  He surprisingly, but effectively, establishes an ethos of authority and delivers one of the best essays in the book.  However, his ethos is undermined by the fact that he likely pulled all that information out of his arse.  That being said, I bought his story, and as I listened I felt had been edified, gifted with a new piece of etymological knowledge that may one day come in handy if I'm ever on a game show.

Then I listened to Jim Gaffigan's new book, Dad is Fat.  In his book, Gaffigan details the difficulty of raising five kids an a two bedroom apartment in New York City.  He goes on to say, "I should mention this apartment is on the Bowery in Manhattan. For those readers not presently recovering from heroin addiction who are familiar with this area of New York City, consider this: supposedly the term hobo comes from a description of the sketchy characters who were the main inhabitants on the cross streets of HOuston and BOwery. Hey, that’s right where I live. Isn’t that cool, hip, and ironic? The tiny overcrowded apartment where I’m raising my young children is in the same location where they manufacture homeless people. Location, location, location."

Gaffigan does not set himself up as an authority like Oswalt.  He goes so far as to use a qualifier, "supposedly."  Nevertheless, I am now stuck with these conflicting reports.  What am I to do?  Ask Google of course!

The Online Etymology Dictionary furnishes the following clarification  "Hobo (n.): 1889, Western U.S., of unknown origin. Barnhart compares early 19c. English dialectal hawbuck 'lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin.' Or possibly from ho, boy, a workers' call on late 19c. western U.S. railroads."

This is completely different from the two aforementioned theories.  I had to search further.

The Word Detective provides some more possible origins, stating, "There’s also a suggestion that 'hobo' is short for 'hopping boxcars,' and some maintain that 'hobo' is short for Hoboken, NJ, where many rail lines converged in the 19th century, making the city a natural gathering point for vagabonds."

Wikipedia, which as far as I am concerned should always be the authority, adds, "Bill Bryson suggests in Made in America (1998) that it could either come from the railroad greeting, 'Ho, beau!' or a syllabic abbreviation of 'homeward bound.'"

Needless to say, there are a lot of different explanations for this word's source. Personally, I like the "Homeward Bound" explanation, but that seems like one of the least likely.  I like Patton's idea, but I think he made it up entirely.  It's funny and seems like the kind of thing he'd say.  I think Gaffigan's source is doubtful too.  It's more likely to be coincidental than causal.

Anyways, that's way more info than anyone needs, but it's kind of cool.

The Pluto Files

I feel like I need to redact, or at least expound on, one of my comments in a previous post.  I said something to the effect of, "scientists aren't shaken to the core when pluto loses its planetary status."  Well, it turns out I may have been partially wrong.  Because I was spurred to curiosity by my own comment, I checked out Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's little book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet.

The story of Pluto as told by Dr. Tyson is, if I may use a slightly tedious witticism, out of this world. Since its discovery, by American astronomer, Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930, Pluto has had a special place in American culture. This is why many Americans lashed out at Tyson and his team members at the Rose Center for Earth and Space for neglecting to include Pluto in their planetary exhibition. The decision made by the Rose Center sparked an international, though according to Tyson, mainly American, controversy over the planetary status of Pluto. This debate culminated in in the IAU's 2006 resolution that defined the term "planet" and demoted Pluto to a "dwarf planet."

Letter sent to Dr. Tyson after Pluto's demotion.

The Pluto Files is a candid account of the controversy, written by the man at the center of it all.  Tyson includes several hilarious letters he received from angered, applauding, and even ambivalent schoolchildren, and he details much of the pop-cultural reaction to Pluto's demotion.  In addition he recounts many of the interactions he had with other leading scientists during the debate.  While a strong majority of scientists favored the new designation, there were several outspoken advocates of Pluto's planethood.  In short, some scientists were shaken to the core.  I think, however, that many of these scientists were reacting emotionally because they had so much personally invested in Pluto--their careers focused on it, they are somehow related to the discoverer, etc; they may not have been behaving 100% rationally.  But who behaves completely rationally all the time?  Spock.  Maybe.  I don't know.  Anyways, read The Pluto Files; it's a short and entertaining book that is informative and fun. I would definitely recommend it!