Have you ever come across the terms vagrant and a hobo? Not sure about the difference or what these words mean? Well, you are not the only one in the dark. There are many like you.
Both words are used to describe someone wandering and homeless. Both the term has something different to them, and knowing in detail would help us to understand the challenges both face who are without a job or home.
Vagrant Vs Hobo: The Basic Difference
Both words have the same meaning and are often used interchangeably when you want to describe a homeless person. But when we look into it precisely, there are a few differences between both the words.
| Vagrant | Hobo |
|---|---|
| A person who roams from one place to another without a job or a home. | A person who is homeless but travels from one place to another by hopping on freight trains. |
| They do not have any specific purpose or destination for traveling. | They often have a destination fixed or have a goal for traveling. |
| May be involved in panhandling or other ways of begging for their survival. | Often does odd jobs to make ends meet or does manual labor to get food or money. |
| May have some addiction issues or mental illness. | They might have chosen this nomadic life for themselves to escape societal norms and responsibilities. |
Key Characteristics of Hobos
When looking at vagrant vs hobo, various characteristics differ, and you have to consider. The main characteristics of hobos are:
- Migrant workers
- Train travel
- They are willing to work for their survival
- They have their tradition and subculture
Key Characteristics of Vagrants
Several traits differentiate them from other homeless individuals. Their main characteristics are:
- They dont have a permanent home
- They wander without any specific plan or destination in mind
- Vagrants depend on others for their survival
- They are often found in cities to access public resources
Vagrant Vs Hobo: Definition
A vagrant is someone who does not have a permanent address or a fixed place to live. They might roam from one place to another and sleep in public places like sidewalks and parks or some abandoned buildings. Vagrants mostly rely on begging and other different forms of charity for their survival. The term is frequently associated with homelessness.
A hobo is someone who generally travels from one place to another, mostly by freight trains, without a permanent job or home. Hobos are mainly related to one specific culture that evolved in the US back in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. They live in temporary camps, popularly termed “hobo jungles,” and depend on odd jobs, theft, or panhandling for a living.
Historical Context of Hobos
The term first came up in the late 19th century after the Civil War in the United States. In this period, a lot of vagrants came back home to look for limited job opportunities and started traveling across the length of the country in search of work.
Hobos became prominent during the Great Depression when a huge number of Americans lost their homes and jobs. These people embraced their life on the road and seasonally worked in industrial or agricultural work whenever and wherever it was available.
Moreover, hobos created a sense of belonging among themselves.
- They used symbols known as “hobo codes” to communicate among themselves about towns that offered work, or the places that were safe to stay.
- Also, they gathered once every year at an annual hobo convention where they shared a lot of stories and celebrated their unique lifestyle.
Historical Context of Vagrancy
The concept of vagrance has been here for centuries. In medieval Europe, especially in England, vagrancy was believed to be a crime. Also, the society saw people without a home or a job as a threat and often punished them harshly.
- In England, during the Black Death in 1349, they passed a law that said everyone who was able-bodied had to work. People who refused were labeled as vagrants and were often imprisoned.
- By the 16th century, England came up with “poor laws” and differentiated between “undeserving poor” like vagrants and “deserving poor” such as orphans and widows. Vagrants faced severe punishment for their lack of work.
Even in modern times, there is still a lot of stigma about vagrancy. Moreover, people think of vagrants as lazy and unwilling to contribute anything to society, even though their situation is not under their control.
When To Use The Term Hobo?
As we have discussed, a hobo is referred to as a person without a permanent home and could be assumed as a short form of homeless. To be precise, a hobo is a form of professional wanderer that roams in the country.
The term hobo has been circulating for ages and has become a negative connotation to it. It is considered to be polite to call someone “a hobo” on their face. Mainly, hobos are people who travel of their own will and do not settle in any single place.
Examples Of Using Hobo In A Sentence
- The hobo walked past the street with his hands in his pocket, and his head bowed down.
- Ben told Jay that he was acting like an original hobo when he denied him the money he owed him.
- Barry is kind of a hobo who traveled to a lot of cities with no proper means of making anything out of it.
- I watched a movie yesterday where the thief tricked the police and escaped by dressing like a hobo.
- She took me to the movies yesterday, it was really good and was about the life story of a hobo.
When To Use The Term Vagrant?
We have mentioned earlier as well that “a vagrant” is a homeless person who lives on the street. Contrary to hobos, a vagrant generally stays in one place and does not move often. It is quite obvious that this form of living is extremely tough, but very few number of people deliberately choose this way of living.
Examples Of Using Vagrant In A Sentence
- The city has become overpopulated by vagrants, they are really doing a struggle to survive on the streets.
- That poop vagrant who used to live by 9th Avenue died in an accident yesterday.
- That vagrant, Steve, who lives by our lane, is a really educated man.
- The vagrants who lived here were resourceful and resilient; they survived even though there were many challenges.
- The local charity shelter was quite generous and offered the vagrants free housing.
Which One Is More Popular?
Vagrant vs hobo, if we judge that in terms of popularity, with the help of ngram data by Google, the term vagrant undoubtedly is more popular in published literature. This is because of the fact that the term is a bit more formal than the word hobo, which is often considered slang for a homeless person. For example, “Where are you at” is considered slang for the phrase “Where are you?”
It is quite common that the popularity of a term or vocabulary changes with time. The word vagrant is less popular now than it was back in the late 1800s and the early 1900s.
Wrapping Up!
There is a significant difference between vagrant vs hobo, but both terms are used to refer to someone who is homeless. But a vagrant person lives life depending on others’ charity and begging, and a hobo has some purpose of traveling and might have a goal decided for himself.
Hobos and vagrants share some similarities as they are both people without a permanent home, but their lives are different. Their way of living is different.
MORE FOR YOU:
- Loose vs Lose: How And When To Use These
- Goodnight Vs Good Night: Which One To Use?
- Time Flys Or Time Flies: Which Is The Correct Spelling?
- Thanks For The Heads Up: When And How You Can Say This
