No matter what industry you’ve worked in, you’ve probably communicated with your co-workers using terminology that the outside public wouldn’t understand. For those who don’t have traditional jobs – or even a permanent home, for that matter – certain words and symbols can take on their own meaning, too.

In this issue of Discover Vintage America, we’ll hit the dusty trail – or, in most cases, the old train tracks – and learn about the life of the hobo, a figure often portrayed but also generally misunderstood in the zeitgeist of American pop culture. Though we often view them with mistrust and derision, hobos, through a language of their own, can move throughout their own collective with ease, learning which people and places will be safe and hospitable for them on their journey.

We don’t know how the word ‘hobo’ itself originated. Some people believe its beginnings can be traced to the Civil War, and that it is a shortened reference to soldiers who are “homeward bound.” Others still think it came from the word ‘hoosier,’ meaning someone who is a frontiersman, someone who is rustic.

 We do know, however, that the word ‘hobo’ began to be commonly used in the late 19th century, a few decades after the construction of the first railroad system in the U.S.

In the following years, these men, traversing the country’s rails searching for work, developed their own slang terms and symbols with which to communicate with one another (you’ll learn more about the symbols in this issue as well). Take a look at some of the lingo:

• Bazoo – Mouth. A term of derision. “Shut your bazoo!”
• Cannon ball – A fast train. “The Wabash Cannon Ball” is the mythical hobo train that travels everywhere (share that fact at the next football game, fellow K-Staters!)
• Dead soldier – An empty whiskey bottle lying beside the road
• Exhibition meal – A handout eaten on the doorstep. The madam wants the neighbors to witness her generosity.
• Knowledge box – Country school house where hobos sometimes sleep
• Mission stiff – Man who gets “saved” for food and a flop, or a place to stay