<P> A hobo is a migrant worker or homeless vagabond, especially one who is impoverished . The term originated in the Western--probably Northwestern--United States around 1890 . Unlike a "tramp", who works only when forced to, and a "bum", who does not work at all, a "hobo" is a traveling worker . </P> <P> The origin of the term is unknown . According to etymologist Anatoly Liberman, the only certain detail about its origin is the word was first noticed in American English circa 1890 . Liberman points out that many folk etymologies fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?" Author Todd DePastino has suggested it may be derived from the term hoe - boy meaning "farmhand", or a greeting such as Ho, boy! 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". It could also come from the words "homeless boy". H.L. Mencken, in his The American Language (4th ed., 1937), wrote: </P>

What did hobos do during the great depression