Entry from July 19, 2004
Straphanger
A "straphanger" is someone who rides the trains or buses. NYPIRG has a branch it calls "Straphangers Campaign" that studies transit issues. The subway is about 100 years old, but "straphanger" is even older.
16 April 1893, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 33:
But Lili (a dwarf elephant - ed.) weighs only seventy pounds and her tread would not affect a corn as much as that of the dudish strap-hanger whose equilibrium has been disturbed by the sudden jerk of a green gripman.
22 February 1896, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 7:
"No sane man," said a North-sider yesterday who has been a strap-hanger for years, "expects the street car lines to furnish seats for every passenger during the rish hour morning and evening."
19 April 1899, New York Times, pg. 6:
When the offer of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company to build the underground railroad was published, the million strap-hangers were silent, inert, and helplessly contemplative.
16 April 1893, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 33:
But Lili (a dwarf elephant - ed.) weighs only seventy pounds and her tread would not affect a corn as much as that of the dudish strap-hanger whose equilibrium has been disturbed by the sudden jerk of a green gripman.
22 February 1896, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. 7:
"No sane man," said a North-sider yesterday who has been a strap-hanger for years, "expects the street car lines to furnish seats for every passenger during the rish hour morning and evening."
19 April 1899, New York Times, pg. 6:
When the offer of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company to build the underground railroad was published, the million strap-hangers were silent, inert, and helplessly contemplative.