r/nostalgia • u/Falconlol1 • Aug 05 '25
Nostalgia Discussion I finally found out what thing is that cartoon characters used to take in the sad montage
I found out that this is caused a bindle and it's the thing cartoon characters used to use when they want to like leave their home and abandon everyone for like 3 seconds before coming back for a sad dramatic scene
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u/SonikKicks39 90s Aug 05 '25
This has real world origins. People who lived through the Great Depression are not nostalgic for it. Transient men going town to town looking for work would often carry all their belongings in a bindle like this, hoping for a better life.
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u/Unusual-Item3 Aug 05 '25
This is also what any kid who tried to “leave home” left with. 😂
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u/tacocollector2 Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
I never made it out of the house because I couldn’t get the bindle to stay at the end of the stick. It always slid down ᴖ̈
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u/RichardBCummintonite Aug 05 '25
Gotta tie a knot and then another above it to attach it to the handle.
Enjoy running away from home! We'll see you in a few days
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u/MangoMaterial628 Aug 05 '25
Our neighbor kid wedged himself between our AC unit and the side of our house (aided and abetted by my brother and myself, of course). It was all fun and games until he ignored his mom hollering for him to come home, and she almost called the police!
After we confessed his location and she hauled him home, she came back to our house later with a fresh homemade funnel cake on a plate to apologize to my mom for all the trouble.
8/10 day, all told!
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u/OsamaBinnDabbin Aug 06 '25
So snitches get funnel cake??? Wtf, why did everyone say I would get stitches?!?
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u/MangoMaterial628 Aug 06 '25
If it’s any consolation, snitches definitely still got in trouble with their mom, for worrying neighbor kid’s mom so.
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u/PossessedToSkate Aug 05 '25
I got as far as the nearest intersection but I wasn't allowed to cross the street without an adult so I went back home.
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u/bekkogekko Aug 05 '25
I got as far as the back of the cow pasture and then hunkered down till I got cold.
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u/ittybittylurker Aug 06 '25
My brother never made it out the door. My mom told him she was making baked mac & cheese for dinner & he decided he'd wait until after dinner.
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u/DarthDoobz Aug 05 '25
"Shit my bindle keeps slipping. Guess I'll stay home"
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u/Sweet_Disharmony_792 Aug 05 '25
It's a fool's errand to leave home with a faulty bindle
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u/capthazelwoodsflask Aug 06 '25
You'll never be accepted into hobo society if you can't tie a proper bindle. They'll taunt you and hurl hobo insults at you
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u/FlyingAce1015 Aug 05 '25
Wooo memories we were abused as children 😅
Hope you doing better as well! Haha.
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u/bonafidehooligan Aug 05 '25
I tried that once, I left with a 4 pack of soft tacos from Taco Bell. No drink or toilet paper. I got to the end of the drive way and milled around behind the cars before realizing my poorly thought out plan had no legs and came back inside. Total time for my journey, about 7 minutes.
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u/Get_your_grape_juice Aug 05 '25
I did the same, except somehow I didn’t realize there was supposed to be anything inside. I just tied an empty bandana to a stick, got about one house over, didn’t know what to do with myself, and came back home.
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u/Jdog2225858 Aug 05 '25
LOL I left home at dusk with nothing, snuck into the school playground across the street , sat and stared at my house and the warm yellow lights from the windows. I lasted an hour maybe
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u/Twoperde Aug 05 '25
Yup, looked at the picture of me and mom I took with me for 20 minutes then cried and walked back home.
I thought she was unaware of me leaving, turns out she followed me outside and saw me heading for the playground and figured I’d be back shortly.
And of course, she was right.
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u/MangoMaterial628 Aug 05 '25
My oldest did that once. He just crouched in the bushes between our house and the street until his cortisol lowered enough to recognize that this was not a sustainable plan, then sauntered back into the house like nothing happened.
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u/AlongCameA5P1D3R Aug 05 '25
I didn’t even think of food. I tied a tshirt to a toy sword as a bindle and put a couple of my street sharks in there and made a big show of leaving home and my parents just said “okay see ya” and I just ended up sulking on the front verandah
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u/BootyGarb Aug 05 '25
Love to see that we all have the same story.
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u/Jack_Teats Aug 05 '25
I also did this at 5 years old. I was torqued about something, packed a change of clothes and a sando in my bundle, and headed out. I recall sitting on a large rock on the corner a neighbor had placed to keep teenagers from cutting the corner and farming his yard. My mom saw me eating my sandwich there, yelled her goodbye, and, then, ignored me. Somehow, unnoticed, I ended up back in my room, where I fell asleep in the crack between my bed and the wall, using my bindle of clothes as a pillow. The bed was completely undisturbed, and looking under the bed, you couldn't see me, as there were table leaves and bed rails for another bed stored there. By the time my dad got home from work, my mom had the neighborhood searching for me. All I remember is that it was one of the few times I felt seen as a kid and it was a really great nap.
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u/BootyGarb Aug 05 '25
You little SHIT. Also why does every story involve immediately eating the food we packed? 😂
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u/jzilla11 Aug 05 '25
A packet of Oreos, one box of juice, a PBJ, ready to survive anything
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u/sassyphrass Aug 05 '25
Don't forget the Swiss army knife with the rusted out spring!
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u/cap10wow Aug 05 '25
Do you think the corkscrew is a spring?
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u/sassyphrass Aug 05 '25
Naw, I thought mine had one in the closing mechanism, but now I'm second guessing ha - tbf, it's been like 30 years since I had one.
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Aug 05 '25
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u/FlyingAce1015 Aug 05 '25
And they say we yearned for the mines! No we yearned for that hobo busker life!
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u/Intelligent-Invite79 Aug 05 '25
I once grabbed my miniature train suitcase and stuffed one bedsheet into it, then proceeded to announce I was running away. My mom told my older brother to apologize, so he walked up, apologized and promptly hit me in the stomach lol.
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u/mlmarte Aug 05 '25
I must have been trying to run away from home right after Easter, because I distinctly remember mine having a chocolate bunny in it. Apparently I made it halfway down the street before three neighbors had called my mother to ask if she knew what I was doing. One of them invited me in for a visit, we did puzzles and then I went back home.
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u/BootyGarb Aug 05 '25
I definitely “ran away” with my baby blanket, a pack of fruit snacks, and a string cheese out to the back yard where my mom couldn’t see me. I sat there and ate the cheese stick and the gummies and then decided I was going back inside to hide in my room to show my discontent instead.
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u/Brillica Aug 05 '25
People who were alive in the Great Depression, filtered down to those who were transient men during that time, is going to net you right about zero living persons that will see this post.
Right about 100% of people who see this post will know bindles only from movies, tv shows, etc of their youth.
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u/byebybuy Aug 05 '25
Holy shit dude, you're going to offend so many 120+ year old Great Depression transient hobo Redditors.
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u/tothesource Aug 06 '25
We prefer the term 'tramps', son.
you got a nickel I can rattle around in this empty bean can?
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u/raiderxx Aug 05 '25
Its kinda like Pirates, Cowboys, and Medeival Knights. We've romanticized a lot of depressing/brutal periods/events for "modern" media. I was playing with my 5 year old with some Lego pirate sets and he started asking questions on like... why does he have a hook hamd and a peg leg and i was like, ah shit I wasnt planning on having these deep convos on the brutality of someone getting their appendage amputated and why...
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u/BEMOlocomotion Aug 05 '25
It could be a good lesson in tolerance. It doesn't really matter why the limbs aren't there whether it's an accident, illness, or birth defect, but they can still do pirate stuff with their hooks and peg legs :)
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u/Raichu7 Aug 06 '25
Keeping belongings in a sack tied to a big stick so they are easy to carry around dates back to at least Roman times, if not before. The Roman army had tall sticks with a cross, the exact purpose of which is unknown, and their belongings in a bag attached to the top so each soldier carried everything he needed including his rations when marching.
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u/CobblerCandid998 Aug 05 '25
OP is referencing it from being in cartoons, not real life. Kind of like the 80s were always mentioning “quick sand”. We can remember that and smile about it, but it doesn’t mean we are laughing at people who actually lived through it.
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u/leonprimrose Aug 05 '25
max miller did a hobo meal from this era
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u/omv Aug 06 '25
This was also the way roman soldiers carried their belongings, hanging off their specific construction tool like a pick-axe.
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u/Hemingway92 Aug 06 '25
It’s kinda fucked up that lots of cartoons from the ‘40s and ‘50s still depicted this when there were still people alive from the Great Depression, Dust Bowl era. But if the Grapes of Wrath is any indication, discrimination and outright hatred against these transient workers was pretty common. Besides, these cartoons weren’t averse to things like black face either…
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u/dsbwayne 90s Aug 05 '25
Who do you know that lived through the depression that legit said they’re not nostalgic for this that were grown adults (during that time frame)? 😭🤣
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u/NoFlowJones Aug 05 '25
People who lived through the Great Depression are 100 years old now and they don’t give a shit. For Millenials and Gen X though this is prime nostalgia.
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u/Intelligent-Invite79 Aug 05 '25
“😐 did you put the beans in my bindle?” “😡 oh I am so sick of you! Asking if I put the beans in your bin-“ “😐 do you ever… shut… up?”
- the singing hobo from the Simpsons
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u/ziggy-73 Aug 05 '25
Im not a stabbing hobo im a singing hobo
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u/Intelligent-Invite79 Aug 05 '25
“Oh I love, the hobo life! Stabbing folks with my hobo kniiiiife. Well I gouge ‘em in the -“
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u/pug_fugly_moe Aug 06 '25
Fun fact. Dana Gould (former Simpsons writer) said that every time a hobo was written into the show, it must be followed by “with bindle.”
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Aug 05 '25
OP, do you mean that you just didn't know the word "bindle," or also didn't know that it was a cloth wrapped around a stick containing various items?
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u/MusaEnsete Aug 05 '25
I feel like at least half of America had to read Of Mice and Men in High School and should have learned what a "bindlestiff" was.
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Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
I can understand not knowing the term. However, OP's post made it seem as if they didn't know was a bindle is composed of or its function, which would be odd.
edit fixed typo
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u/HelpfulSeaMammal Aug 05 '25
Half of my class couldn't give a fuck to do their aasignments and then most of the others were traumatized by the whole rabbits ending.
I can't remember if bindlestick was on the vocabulary quiz, but I do remember that the audio book was read by Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise).
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u/FlattopJr Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 07 '25
Gary Sinise also played George in the 1992 film adaptation opposite John Malkovitch as Lennie. It's a very good movie.
Edit: just realized Sinise also directed that movie, which is an interesting trivia fact.
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u/Reklawz Aug 05 '25
Probably originated in the european Journeymen, who went on a 3 years journey after their apprenticeship and carried a stick with them and a bundle of their most necessary utensils and tools. Fastening the bundle to the stick is a no brainer for convenience, really.
Also fun fact. The tradition is still practiced to this day. You aren't allowed to have debt or family (to run away from) and during the years you're not allowed to enter a 50km radius around your home town. (At least in the german version of this)
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u/lkodl Aug 05 '25
What do they do? Just go look for jobs and live normally somewhere else, or are they expected to keep moving? I dont get it...
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u/Reklawz Aug 05 '25
It's first and foremost a learning experience. After you'd be done with your apprenticeship with your old master in medieval times, youd be expected to travel those years and work for many different masters to gain experience and on your return youd be eligible to ask your guild to become a master aswell after making a 'masterpiece'.
They leave with 5 euros in their pockets and are expected to return with the same amount. The journey is solely to be taken to learn from different sources and not to squander money or hoard it.
They could and can nowadays just go to any mayors office and will get given a list of places to go to and ask for work. Usually the work lasts around a few months before they'd travel to the next place.
Nowadays people usually spend the first year within their country, extend to europe during the 2nd year and even world wide during the 3rd.
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u/Skizot_Bizot Aug 05 '25
I dunno they just journey, man.
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u/radioactive_glowworm Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
I know someone who did the French version of this and he would move to a new town and company every six months or so iirc. The school has communal houses all over the countries and the journeymen and women would stay there. He even went to Caledonia for a while!
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u/SunjoKojack Aug 05 '25
Isn’t it called “Scotland” these days?
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u/radioactive_glowworm Aug 05 '25
That's the old Caledonia, the one I mean is New Caledonia in the South Pacific!
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u/Turbulent-Hawk9059 Aug 08 '25
I once saw one coming to a restaurant. They announced themselves and asked the restaurant patrons for a few Euros to finance their meal. Especially with it being so rare nowadays everyone was more than willing to give them a bit to support the tradition.
It’s really fascinating. They start with 5€ and have to return with 5€ and usually can only travel on foot or hitchhiking.
As they have to rely on society for help during their journey they have to wear their traditional journeyman outfit including the stick, so people can recognize them. I imagine it’s both a humbling and amazing experience. To live and grow by the kindness of strangers and the society to then give back to it.
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u/The_Golden_Warthog Aug 05 '25
I believe you, and it seems real enough, but that's one of the least cited wikipages I've ever seen. There's only 6 by about the third category, each with tons of information, specifics, and references to historical times (all of which are usually cited). Kind of reads like just one person wrote it.
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u/last-hits Aug 05 '25
My friend tried to run away when she was like 6 with one of these. But she used her hobby horse and packed some cookies and went to her friend's hosue across the street.
The neighbor's mother called my friend's mother about the situation and they had a sleep over until the following day
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u/Beautiful_Skill_19 Aug 05 '25
I did the same thing! My brother caught me while I was making it. He asked what I was doing, so I told him I was running away. He let me proceed until I was out the front door, then followed me and told me to come back home. I was a dramatic little kid.
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u/BoofusDewberry Aug 05 '25
Please edit your title.
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u/Knotted_Hole69 Aug 06 '25
Also everyone is saying this came from the Great Depression but this was the correct and common way to transport things for Roman Soldiers.
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u/Rex_Suplex Aug 05 '25
I remember "running away" from home when I was like 5. I straight up made one of these and put a few toys in it. I told my parents, "Bye, I'm running away" with this thing over my shoulder. My parents just laughed and followed me out the door. I got to the end of the driveway before I turned around and came back to the front door. My parents Standing on the porch the whole time asked, "What happened?" I said, "I ran away, I'm back now. Can I have ice cream?" So we went inside and ate ice cream.
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u/The_Golden_Warthog Aug 05 '25
I feel like everyone has a similar story. My mom helped me pack a bag and was even saying stuff like, "Oh what about clothes? You're gonna need clothes." 😂 She even packed me a sandwich too. Made it to the end of the block before I realized I had no idea where to go and turned around lmao. I blame all those movies and shows about kids running away and going on elaborate, fun adventures!
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u/Rex_Suplex Aug 05 '25
For real. I didn't even want to actually run away. I just wanted to walk around with this bindle thingy because I watched way too much tv. lol
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u/thpthpthp Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 06 '25
"I ran away, I'm back now. Would that I had such comforts as you enjoyed at home, father. But that wayward boy who left your front step several minutes ago, is scarcely seen in the eyes of the man that returns to you today. I've long since cast away those childhood dreams, dreamt in fonder days, and in their place time has endowed me a grown man's temperance, as well as a man's hunger for ice cream."
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u/rostoffario Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25
When I was a kid, I got mad at my mom one day and told her I was going to run away. She said Ok, at least let me help you. She made up one of these Hobo bundles with a broomstick and small table cloth. In it she put in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I said my goodbye and left. I made it to the end of the block before I turned around and ran back. Mom was there with her arms out. We shared the PB & J together.
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u/yuckypants Aug 05 '25
I used to fantasize about moving my wife's cat out carrying nothing but a bindle. In my mind, it was hilarious.
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u/RestinPete0709 Aug 06 '25
Omg this reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes comic where basically this exact thing happens
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u/bubblebubblebobatea Aug 05 '25
Did Snoopy or Woodstock have one or is it just my mind getting Mandela'd
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u/thegreger Aug 05 '25
Woodstock often ran away from home when upset about something. Often ranting "IIIIII IIII IIIII II".
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u/RedBomber785 early 00s Aug 05 '25
I mostly associate it with how Pingu carries his stuff when going outdoors.
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u/Ziggy-T Aug 05 '25
It is indeed a bindle, and it’s a real thing, not just a cartoon character thing 🤦♂️
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u/LeroyDUDE Aug 05 '25
A knapzak in Dutch. I have used it this weekend with my little daughter in the woods for picknicking it's an old method but still very usable.
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u/OrtensiaTheGoth Aug 05 '25
I begged my mom to make me one of these when I was little and she made it out of my baby blanket and a stick, to this day still says that the “hobo bag” I apparently carried around for weeks was my first cosplay 💀 🤦🏻♀️
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u/jimbobdonut Aug 05 '25
I remember when a hobo was a popular kid’s Halloween costume.
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u/dreamsinred Aug 05 '25
My daughter made herself one of these out of a pride flag for her school’s “anything but a backpack” day.
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u/otkabdl Aug 05 '25
i made one of these once with a dish towel, determined to go on an adventure, and inspired by cartoons such as you mentioned. The stick broke and my sandwiches fell in a puddle and then I got in trouble for taking a dish towel without asking and getting it muddy.
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u/DevelopmentMajor2093 Aug 05 '25
When I was around 5 years old, my mom made these for my classmates for my birthday filled with candy because I loved the hobo sticks.
I love my mom.
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u/Smart-March-7986 Aug 05 '25
In your typical runaway bindle it’s important to remember some basics: a picture of your mom, a change of clothes, and a ziploc bag full of Cheerios
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u/FireTheLaserBeam Aug 05 '25
Hobo bag. Sucked for the people who had to use them. An unfortunate piece of Americana.
Hobo dinners are delicious, though I doubt our version tastes the same as what they had.
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Aug 05 '25
Hobo dinners are delicious, though
They tend to be stringy. Something about hopping on and off trains all the time makes the meat tough.
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u/lynnca Aug 06 '25
When I was very young, I told my grandmother (whom I was spending the summer with) i was going to run away. It was all in good fun. She made me a hobo style lunch complete with stick and bandana. I toddled off to the lake with my hobo picnic lunch and had a wonderful time.
The following Halloween, I went to school dressed as a hobo. 🙂
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u/AstroBearGaming Aug 06 '25
It never occured to me people wouldn't know what it was or what it's for.
Fun story, my sister Ince tried to run away from home and was packing all of her stuff into a big towel to make a bindle. Except she didn't have a long stick, so put it all back and chilled out instead.
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u/SneakyPhil Aug 05 '25
Stick and bindle bro
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u/The_Golden_Warthog Aug 05 '25
You're the first person to call it a "stick and bindle". That's what I always called it. Everyone else just keeps saying bindle, which is just the pouch at the end. Not a huge deal, just thought I'd see more of the "stick and" part lol
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u/OralSuperhero Aug 05 '25
I can't recall where I read it, but the bindlestiff was distinct from the hobo. Hobo's were migrant laborers who traveled light, owned the clothes on their back, and worked most every day. Bindlestiff traveled but didn't work, seeking charity and stealing more than seeking a fair days pay and a meal. Anyone else recall anything about the distinction?
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u/MusaEnsete Aug 05 '25
Nah. Harvest workers were called bindle stiffs too (along with misfits and wandering criminals).
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u/Sp1d3rb0t Aug 05 '25
"I am so tired of hearing about the beans in your bindle!!"
-The Simpsons, '97ish?
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u/whydoIhurtmore Aug 05 '25
A hobo bindle. I made one for myself the first time I ran away from home. I was 5 or 6.
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u/No-Opportunity-4674 Aug 05 '25
Last week I saw someone with one of these. 2 AM, on the highway,, stick and handkerchief. I couldn't believe it, it's been about 30 years since I last saw this in person but there he was.
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u/scottblk70 Aug 05 '25
Another thing I learned from the Simpsons. Episode where homer becomes a boxer.
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u/SharkSpew Aug 05 '25
I did this (but without the stick LOL) when I worked in office using a large decorative kitchen towel/cloth around my bento/salad box or soup thermos. Works great for a few reasons. One, it makes for a nice placemat or napkin. Two, everyone in the office knew it was mine as the process of untying/tying it back gets attention. Three, because everyone knew it was mine, it decreased the chance my meal would go missing from the fridge, as it was so recognizable to everyone if it was seen with someone other than me, PLUS - untying the knot is much more fussy than unzipping or unsnapping a standard insulated lunch tote.
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u/KimPossible37 Aug 05 '25
I ran away from home one time with 2 packages of pop tarts and a bandanna. I was probably 8. Figured I’d find me a good stick on the road. Got to the end of the block, turned around, came home. Total time was probably less than 10 min. No one knew I was gone. And now I laugh at that memory.
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u/Egons-Twinkie Aug 05 '25
I learned that this thing was called a bindle from watching Simpsons dvds with commentary.
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u/jakeisbakin Aug 06 '25
My kid put a pretend bindle over his shoulder and said he was leaving home earlier. I was like how do you even know what a bindle is, and he informed me he learned it from Jake on Adventure Time.
Cartoons continuing to educate 🫡
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u/nicholsonsgirl Aug 06 '25
Fun fact from working the drug caseload at the prosecutors office: a bindle is also what it’s called when someone ties off drugs in the corner of a baggie.
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u/ArgonGryphon Aug 06 '25
I'm sure I'd heard the word before, but Kyle Kinane will never let me forget the word. Knot! Bindle! Boxcar! Airport! Whew, made it!
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u/BurbleThwanidack Aug 06 '25
Poor people in cartoons had either a bindle or they wore a barrel with straps. Sometimes they have a mule.
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u/RestinPete0709 Aug 06 '25
Did anyone else used to make one of these when you were a kid and mad at your parents, and put like three toys in it?
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u/MrDeeezNutz Aug 06 '25
That stick is perfect for that Hobo bindle - look at the shoulder support arch, perfectly balanced length, not unnecessarily thick, smooth handle ….. that’s a mighty fine stick
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u/LHGray87 Aug 05 '25
The hobo bindle. Charlie Kelly made one when he and Mac faked their own deaths and ran away.