April 28, 2004

Mysteries of the hobo explained

I was not the only one stymied by the hobo symbol for "there are crooks around"; in Lore's follow-up to last week's review of hobo signs, he also expresses mystification at the apparent communicative qualities of unreduced fractions. But one of the readers of Lore's blog thinks he has an answer:

"Two over 10 is 'keep your two eyes on his ten fingers' -- because he's a thief."

Better than anything I came up with. And yet I feel like my street smarts have not increased. Ah well.

Posted by Francis at 09:22 PM
Comments

I think I remember reading somewhere that "two on ten" or something like it was used by shopkeepers to indicate to each other that a customer seemed suspicious (a potential shoplifter) and should be watched.

Posted by: Kath at April 29, 2004 09:32 AM