MATILDA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 20 January 2012

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

MATILDA  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a hobo’s bundle or pack; a bundle of personal belongings carried by a traveler

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Epilogue:
There are several terms for a hobo’s bundle, and almost all of them come from Australia, where to go on a WALKABOUT or to go “waltzing MATILDA” is to go drifting about with only a small number of personal belongings.  No one knows exactly how this sense of “Matilda” developed, but one theory is that a hobo’s bundle becomes like his “wife” or travel companion on the road.  The term was further popularized by the song “Waltzing Matilda,” first written in the 1890s.

Also from Australian English are BLUEY and SWAG, both of which can mean “a bag of personal belongings carried in travel” — the former because belongings were often wrapped in a blue blanket and the latter perhaps because of the way such a bundle “swags” or sways while in motion.  Similarly, a SWAGMAN is a drifter, especially one who carries his belongings around while looking for work.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =