Hobo language revisionism

[Framese]

A language has been recorded belonging to the Great Depression era hobos (nomadic camp-dwelling peoples, especially trainhoppers.) The language was historically called "graffiti," and was invented by the Roma.

However, a character has been missing from the archives publicly available for over 10 years. This was the symbol for "good trash," a fish skeleton with the head and tail intact. It was reputed that the language fell into disuse during WWII. Now, it seems, many different releases of information on this language vary widely. These are without a doubt recent revisions (within the past 4 years.) These include the symbols for "there are crooks around," and "tell sad story here," in 2014 reputed as a 9/10 symbol and a large triangle with 3 smaller triangles.

Is there any way to salvage the original archives and circulate them among these connected nomadic communities? Does anyone have access to written literature documenting the original form for accuracy and cultural celebration and authenticity's sake? It would be a shame to see the language revived, but the etymology ransacked potentially by the original opposing group.

 

[MetalBryan]

I am interested in this subject. What are the publicly available archives? The university of Iowa has one (The Historic Graffiti Society pamphlet · Hobo Archive - https://hoboarchive.lib.uiowa.edu/items/show/175) but not sure if that's what you mean. Here's the digital document from the internet archive of The Mostly True guide (Bill Daniel's Mostly true : the west's most popular hobo graffiti magazine : Daniel, Bill, 1959- author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/billdanielsmostl0000dani/mode/2up) but that's a historic document so not sure how that's under threat of being ransacked.

As someone who grew up with the RxR but never hopped a train, I'd be interested to hear if folks find laborers still hopping trains. Hopping trains after 9/11 in the US seems too risky for folks who want to be legitimate and find work. Also, mind-altering substances have gotten weapons grade in the last 30 years or so, so I imagine folks engaging in this written/artistic form of communication have added a lot more variety of symbols which degraded their original meaning.

 

[Jimmy Beans]

I don't have any way to be certain but I feel like those hobo code symbols are pretty much bullshit. I don't think they were ever really a thing. There's some really old water towers and other structures that have very old monikers on them but nobody carrying on those symbols. There's really no proof of them being a thing either.

Also when you look at that list of them, most of them just feel so absurd. Like if I'm out riding trains I'm not gonna leave a hieroglyph that says "Lady with many cats resides here, she makes a mean peach cobbler" or "barking dog" or "defend yourself". Most of them are just absurd, and others seem so thanks captain obvious.

Like defend yourself, yeah duh. That's never not the case anywhere. Why would that require a secret code/warning.. or barking dog? Yeah all dogs bark, and there's a lot of dogs. And who cares anyway. They might as well have put "there's people that live in this town“ and "it's cold here in the winter" on that list of symbols.

I just don't believe in it. I could maybe see a very small number of them being true. Like "there's work here" but those posters they sell in my opinion were conceived long after the great depression and I doubt they had any ties to hobos.

 

[ali]

I also think hobo hieroglyphs are a fabrication. There is a good article here: Hobo Signs - Code of the Road? - https://www.historicgraffiti.org/post/hobo-signs-code-of-the-road

 

[MetalBryan]

I also think hobo hieroglyphs are a fabrication. There is a good article here: Hobo Signs - Code of the Road? - https://www.historicgraffiti.org/post/hobo-signs-code-of-the-road

"Perhaps the Oregon Daily Journal said it best in 1907, stating that the only secret sign is "Help Wanted," and that "It is so baffling that the average tramp never tries to fathom its depth."


The last sentence of the article... hahaha hallelujah I'm a bum give us a handout to revive us again.

 

[Framese]

I don't have any way to be certain but I feel like those hobo code symbols are pretty much bullshit. I don't think they were ever really a thing. There's some really old water towers and other structures that have very old monikers on them but nobody carrying on those symbols. There's really no proof of them being a thing either.

Also when you look at that list of them, most of them just feel so absurd. Like if I'm out riding trains I'm not gonna leave a hieroglyph that says "Lady with many cats resides here, she makes a mean peach cobbler" or "barking dog" or "defend yourself". Most of them are just absurd, and others seem so thanks captain obvious.

Like defend yourself, yeah duh. That's never not the case anywhere. Why would that require a secret code/warning.. or barking dog? Yeah all dogs bark, and there's a lot of dogs. And who cares anyway. They might as well have put "there's people that live in this town“ and "it's cold here in the winter" on that list of symbols.

I just don't believe in it. I could maybe see a very small number of them being true. Like "there's work here" but those posters they sell in my opinion were conceived long after the great depression and I doubt they had any ties to hobos.

I think it's reasonable because a lot of people couldn't read or write during the 1930's. They weren't secret codes, so much as they were the only way people that lived in poorer communities could communicate besides oral tradition; other than that, people that had written language may have been foreign and used only their originating language(s.)
For it being a code, the symbol 9/10 may have been a reference to the Qur'An or the Mahabharata, rather than connotating a hidden estimate of some sort. The sutras and surahs had indications of a part of a whole as if they were water in a cup. I imagine this may have been the kind of alarm you noticed, the possible numeralization of individuals seeming rigid and hateful in a mercenary or authoritative way, as when I saw it, that's what I considered for years.

Myself, I've never seen an American book that had any kind of fabrication as to how old it was. I've read one book on the matter of hobo graffiti that was from before 1950. As to where the characters disappeared to, rain and sun bleaching may have taken the paint off of most older exposed surfaces.

 

[Framese]

I am interested in this subject. What are the publicly available archives? The university of Iowa has one (The Historic Graffiti Society pamphlet · Hobo Archive - https://hoboarchive.lib.uiowa.edu/items/show/175) but not sure if that's what you mean. Here's the digital document from the internet archive of The Mostly True guide (Bill Daniel's Mostly true : the west's most popular hobo graffiti magazine : Daniel, Bill, 1959- author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/billdanielsmostl0000dani/mode/2up) but that's a historic document so not sure how that's under threat of being ransacked.

As someone who grew up with the RxR but never hopped a train, I'd be interested to hear if folks find laborers still hopping trains. Hopping trains after 9/11 in the US seems too risky for folks who want to be legitimate and find work. Also, mind-altering substances have gotten weapons grade in the last 30 years or so, so I imagine folks engaging in this written/artistic form of communication have added a lot more variety of symbols which degraded their original meaning.

Thank you deeply for these references. Everyone in my hometown loves history.

 

[sevedemanos]

or those surfaces have all since been long obliterated. its the chart itself netizens have been making that is apocryphal, and although at one point in history there must have been signs of this nature used in areas of the us, itd be ridiculous to think it at all valid to any degree in a contemporary context

 

[huffinggasbycAndlelight]

A language has been recorded belonging to the Great Depression era hobos (nomadic camp-dwelling peoples, especially trainhoppers.) The language was historically called "graffiti," and was invented by the Roma.

However, a character has been missing from the archives publicly available for over 10 years. This was the symbol for "good trash," a fish skeleton with the head and tail intact. It was reputed that the language fell into disuse during WWII. Now, it seems, many different releases of information on this language vary widely. These are without a doubt recent revisions (within the past 4 years.) These include the symbols for "there are crooks around," and "tell sad story here," in 2014 reputed as a 9/10 symbol and a large triangle with 3 smaller triangles.

Is there any way to salvage the original archives and circulate them among these connected nomadic communities? Does anyone have access to written literature documenting the original form for accuracy and cultural celebration and authenticity's sake? It would be a shame to see the language revived, but the etymology ransacked potentially by the original opposing group.

Go to the library and check out the printed archives u can find all kinds of crazy stuff in there I'm gonna look too that interesting af