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Hobos: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:His eyes sparkled like yours.jpg|thumb]]
{{quote|''"I worked forty years as a fireman, boy / On the Pennsylvania line / And I ended up / just a derelict / Drinkin' Boone's Farm apple wine / Oh where can a bum find bed and board? / When you gonna make it stop rainin' lord?"''|'''Warren Zevon''', '''"Stop Rainin' Lord"'''}}
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Having been everywhere, seen everything and met everyone, hobos are full of tall tales and song — not to mention sage advice. Some may claim to have been men of status (i.e., mayors or heavyweight champs) brought low by dumb luck, while others willfully renounced the stationary life. Both varieties of hobo will recount his story in detail, if you have the time.
These regents of the rails are never far from train tracks and almost always carry [[Bindle Stick
Unlike street persons or the colloquial bum, hobos prefer rural settings, rarely panhandle, and generally conduct their affairs with some sense of dignity and etiquette. Newcomers to hoboism are often adopted by old timers and taught to observe some variety of "The Hobo's Code". When and how a hobo receives his nickname is unclear, but every hobo has one — it's usually "Boxcar" something.
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* In the closing section of ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', Jules declares his intention to quit his job as a hitman, leave [[Los Angeles]] and "[[Walking the Earth|walk the earth]]" in the style of Caine from ''[[Kung Fu]]''. His partner, Vincent, responds that he would be nothing more than a bum. {{spoiler|Better a live bum than getting shot up in the toilet.}}
* ''[[Hobo with a Shotgun]]''
* ''[[Pee
* ''[
* Any of [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s Little Tramp films.
== [[Literature]] ==
* The novel ''[[Sixth Column (novel)|Sixth Column]]'' (also titled ''The Day After Tomorrow'') by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] includes a hobo character. The hobo used to be a graduate student who decided to research the hobo lifestyle. He discovered he liked it and gave up being a student to be a hobo. He also points out to the protagonist that hobos are not tramps or bums, and in fact lays out an entire social taxonomy of American transients, with bindlestiffs at the bottom and true hobos at the top.
** Old blind Rhysling, the Singer of the Spaceways in Heinlein's ''[[The Green Hills
* George and Lennie from ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'', a novel by former hobo John Steinbeck.
** Spoofed by [[Tex Avery]] as hobo bears George and Junior.
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** In "iEnrage Gibby", Carly even has a "hobo party" where everyone dresses up a hobo!
*** And the endless hobo gags have been so overused by [[Dan Schneider]] by this point that one troper is beginning to think it's used only because he thinks the word sounds funny.
*** In pretty much ''all'' of his works, too. He actually offered [https://web.archive.org/web/20131003095646/http://danwarp.blogspot.com/2002/09/hobo-definition.html a definition for the term and how it's different than just 'homeless'] in a blog post.
* Dave Attell encountered one on his show ''[[Insomniac with Dave Attell]]''. After referring to him as a hobo, the man corrected him: "I'm a tramp."
* [[Mad Men|Don Draper]] had a life-changing encounter with a hobo, as he [[Flash Back|remembers]] in the episode: "The Hobo Code."
== [[Music]] ==
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* "Hobo Jungle" by [[The Band]] is a song about the death of an old hobo.
* "Waltzing Mathilda" is the Australian version. It comes from a wave of German immigrants who brought with them some of their habits, such as nicknaming their awesome [[Great Coat]] Mathilda. A German swagman would refer to himself as "Auf der waltz mit mein Mathilda" (on the walk with my Mathilda), with all his belongings (swag) wrapped up in his coat.
* "King of the Road" by [[Roger Miller]] describes (in the first person) an early-20th century hobo who travels from city to city on overnight freight trains:
{{quote|''Third boxcar, midnight train''
''Destination Bangor, Maine''
''Old, worn out suit and shoes''
''I don't pay no union dues''
''I smoke old stogies I have found''
''Short, but not too big around''
''I'm a man of means by no means''
''King of the road''}}
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' basically has you playing [[Frankenstein's Monster|Frankensteinian]] hobos, whose [[Blessed with Suck|inherent attributes]] keep them on the move and outcast from society until they [[Become a Real Boy|become human]].
* ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]'' allows player characters to choose "hobo" as an occupation.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* In the webcomic ''[[Guttersnipe]]'', set in a [[The Theme Park Version|Theme Park Version]] ''of'' a Theme Park Version of the Great Depression, hobos have become so numerous that they have taken over the entire center third of the nation, succeeding to become a sovereign nation called 'Hobotopia.' Hobos are depicted as a roaming barbarian tribe, armed with spears and wearing nothing but loin cloths and the obligatory battered top hats.
* ''[[Hijinks Ensue]]'' features Boxcar Pete, a hobo who for some strange reason wears a monocle and [[Talk Like a Pirate|talks like a pirate]].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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*** In the DVD commentary of the episode creator Matt Groening said "John Swartzwelder '''loves''' hobos!"
** In ""Homer Bad Man" (1994), the family's babysitter choices have been narrowed down between a grad student and a "scary-looking hobo". Bart hopes for the hobo.
** In "The Homer They Fall" (1996), Homer competes in Springfield's hobo boxing circuit, fighting Switchyard Sam and Boxcar Ira on his road to the title bout. As his trainer, Moe warns Homer that his opponents are "hungry fighters" in that they're only fighting to get a meal.
** In "Kill the Alligator and Run" (2000), Bart asks if their Everglades tour guide has any hobo chunks to throw to the alligators.
** In "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" (2000), Nelson claims that Springfield Elementary science classes are dissecting frozen hobos. And he's got the [[Bindle Stick|bindles]] to prove it.
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[[Category:Always Male]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]
[[Category:Hobos]]▼
[[Category:Poverty Tropes]]
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