Is it offensive?

I hear people use it all the time. I don't know of it's good or bad.

not really. When I say it, its just the short version of homeless person in my mind

Hobo means homeward bound.

omg this one time this homeless guy asked me for change and I meant to say "Sorry I'm poor and a student" but I accidentally said "Sorry I'm poor and homeless" and he screamed at me

anyway hobo isn't offensive they should get jobs anyway.

Now that's just offensively ignorant.

Eh, I understand here in Canada because a lot of the homeless are First Nations and are largely mentally ill so they have a tough time qualifying for a lot of government grants, but in the states if you're homeless you're like, really lazy at least from what I've observed.

Kinda.

Hobo and Tranny

I don't use them in a derogatory way. It's just the shortened terms I tend to use.

Just no.

No. I'll always use shortened abbreviations of words, such as hobo and (as mentioned above) tranny.

OMG

A lot of homeless people suffer from severe mental illness.

I couldn't imagine a person being so lazy that they literally freeze and starve to death

I screamed

I feel like we don't get to decide from a place of privilege what homeless people can be called. Do we really need an abbreviation to make our lives easier that simultaneously trivialises their position?

And no, it's very largely not a reflection of laziness so much as like, structural violence and mental illness.

No

No I say it all the time.

Kind of.

I think it's a funny word and I laugh when people say it.

No?