- published: 07 Jul 2012
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Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, tramping, hitching, autostop or thumbing up a ride) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long. The latter may require many rides from different people; a ride is usually, but not always, free. If the hitchhiker wishes to indicate that they need a ride, they may simply make a hand gesture (signs are also used). In North America and the UK, the gesture involves extending the hitchhiker's arm toward the road and sticking the thumb of their outstretched hand upward with the hand closed. In other parts of the world, it is more common to use a gesture where the index finger is pointed at the road. This cultural difference stems partly from an alternate offensive meaning for the thumbs up gesture in parts of Europe and Asia (see mention of Iran and Iraq in the article on Obscene gesture).
Hitchhiking became a common method of traveling during the Great Depression years when many people sought work and had little money, much less their own automobile. Hitchhiking was given tacit acceptance by the Federal Government during those years when the Federal Transient Bureau dealt with the large number of unemployed persons who were migrating to other areas of the country to find employment. Transients were promised a room and a hot meal at camps set up by the Bureau around the country as long as they could get to them. The Bureau operated such camps until it closed its doors in 1936. During those years, thumbing rides around the country was an accepted fact of life.