Talk:homeboy
Earliest uses on Usenet found with Google Groups:
- homeboy & homeboys: net.flame - 18 Jul 1985 by Jorge F. Phinn: [1]
- home boys: net.flame - 13 Aug 1985 by Dowdy Jackson: [2]
- home boy & home girl: net.flame - 10 Sep 1985 by L.BUTTS: [3]
- homegirls: net.bizarre - 11 Sep 1985 by Homeboy#1: [4]
- homegirl: rec.humor - 18 Mar 1991 by TASMAN: [5]
- home girls: misc.activism.progressive - 17 Sep 1991 by Rich Winkel: [6]
— Hippietrail 02:44, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I personally heard "homeboy" in common usage at least as early as 1970 in California, along with its derivative "homes". 1985 is way too late. Tmangray 05:58, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
The term "Homeboy" originated in Los Angeles in the mid 1970's. It began as an insult, or a way for kids to tease each other. When neighborhood mothers wanted thier son's to come home they would scream "<boy's name>, come home boy". Children would then tease the boy in question by calling him "Homeboy". Although this was not always specific to African American children, it was African American mothers who used the phrase "come home boy". Once the phrase gained ground amongst the neighborhoods the kids no longer needed to her someone's mother scream the phrase in order to use it as an insult. Calling someone a "Homeboy" (or Holmes) in the 1970's was accussing them of being a "Momma's Boy", or someone who was under thier parent's thumb. During the rise of gang activity in the 1980's, the same kids who coined the phrase earlier brought it with them into gang life. However the term "home" was no longer where the parent's lived, but refered to the gang itself. Being a "Homeboy" went from being a child's insult to a means for gang members to self-identify with thier fellow "Holmies".
Civil War Origin?[edit]
I once read that draft dodgers in rural counties were called home boys. The reference was to the saying that "they served in the home army, they were home boys." In actual fact, the men spent the war marching around the county trying to avoid being seen by the sheriff or anyone else they didn't know. This then, possibly, developed into the term hobo. As Grant remarked in his autobiography "Prior to the CIvil War most people never ventured beyond the county of their birth" 204.126.64.254 19:40, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Corruption of Hombre?[edit]
It feels like this could be a corruption of "hombre" into English. Homeboy/Hombre. --24.14.134.193 20:32, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
That's where I would think this came from. A "man-boy"....homme boy. It's just a wild guess, and also from hearing Haitians use the word. Mousebelt (talk) 02:39, 15 November 2018 (UTC)