Any sign of cowardice was an indicator that you were easily overcome and could be robbed or abused. The sign for I ate identified towns where other hobos had luck in getting a full meal. The symbol for get bread here marked places where households or religious centers would offer leftover bread. So what do these mysterious symbols mean? Here’s a look at some symbols hobos would have encountered during their travels. Be prepared to defend yourself: Coming across this symbol, a hobo would make sure that they stayed alert for aggressive behavior among other hobos or in areas that frowned upon them. Hobo signs could be used to mark locations where hobos could have their basic needs met. These hobo codes helped migrant workers deal with the often dangerous uncertainties they would face on the road. Hobo symbols would indicate, for example, that it’s safe to camp nearby, or that nice, generous people live inside. Traveling from city to city, hobos developed an emoji-like visual code to help keep each other safe, often marking buildings with chalk or coal. A hobo, on the other hand, is a semi-respectable figure of the American underground that emerged in large numbers following the end of the American Civil War. A bum doesn’t work at all a tramp will only work if forced to do so. No offense intended: unlike calling someone a “tramp” or a “bum,” the word “hobo” is associated with traveling workers. Hobo signs, from Symbol Sourcebook, by Henry Dreyfuss, via bLog-oMotives.What kinds of hobo signs and hobo codes have been used over the years? Have you ever used an emoji in place of words in a text to communicate something quickly to your friends? A pizza slice emoji, for example, to indicate how pumped you are about the pizza you’re getting with them later? Well, you have more in common with a hobo than you might think. So each time you find one of our beers go to the website and find out what the hobo sign means on the can. It was used in the opening credits of O Brother, Where Art Thou? One of the most well-known hobo songs is Big Rock Candy Mountain, first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, about a hobo’s idea of paradise. “The American Hobo has a hard time hoboing nowadays due to the increase in police surveillance of highways, railroad yards, sea shores, river bottoms, embankments and the thousand-and-one hiding holes of the industrial night.” ![]() The number of travelling workers fell dramatically by the 1950s, as Jack Kerouac, no stranger to the hobo life, noted in Lonesome Traveler (1960): During my years in Germany at least twice a week a vagabond type of man, looking like he had stepped out of the 1930’s, knocked on our front door asking for a plate of food in exchange for some chore, such as sweeping the walkways, weeding a flower bed, or trimming the hedge. The symbols in the photos below were drawn onto a small model of an early-1930s American town.Ĭlockwise from top left (above): kind lady, judge lives here, good place to catch the train, camp here.Ĭlockwise from top-left (above): vicious dog, nothing to be gained, water and safe campsite, owners will give to get rid of you. It’s the hobo sign for a good-hearted woman, she said. In the words of Susan Kare, who designed the original Macintosh icons, “This kind of symbol appeals to me because it had to be really simple, and clear to a group of people who were not going to be studying these for years in academia.” Markings would be made on fences, buildings, trees, pavements - anywhere a message could signal help or trouble. If the farmer was generous, the hobo would mark the lane so other hobos would know it was a good place to beg. They criss-crossed the country, usually by freight train, jumping into boxcars as trains pulled away from their stops or slowed at bends in the track.įinding food was a constant problem, and hobos often begged at farmhouses. also hobo bag A large, crescent-shaped handbag with a single shoulder strap and usually a zippered top. Of those, 250,000 were said to be teenagers - the economic collapse had destroyed everything in their young lives. One who wanders from place to place without a permanent home or a means of livelihood. The Great Depression (1929–1939) was when numbers were likely at their highest, as it forced an estimated 4,000,000 adults to leave their homes in search of food and lodging. Hobos were the nomadic workers who roamed the United States, taking jobs wherever they could, and never spending too long in any one place. To cope with the uncertainties of life, hobos developed a system of symbols they’d write with chalk or coal to provide fellow “Knights of the Road” with directions, help, and warnings. ![]() But, there’s more to these signs than just a can of ale. ![]() Each beer we package is adorned with a historical Hobo Sign giving homage to a long lost language and a captivating life style. Hobo Signs are the telling tale of our ever evolving beers.
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