Why did "2/10" mean "there are thieves here" in Hobo Sign symbolism?

TabbyTom

It may have been a warning to keep your TWO eyes on the TEN fingers of the suspected thief. Various British dictionaries of slang (e.g. Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English) mention the phrase “two pound ten” (i.e. two pounds ten shillings of pre-decimal money) as shop staff’s slang to warn each other about a suspected shoplifter. The words would have been slurred to sound like “two (u)pon ten.” Nov 26 08, 5:18 PM

zbeckabee

Are we playing Nancy Drew's Secret of the Old Clock? I ran into that same symbol when I was playing the game and went searching for its history. I can't find that same link, but it said the same thing that TabbyTom has posted: "Two over 10 is 'keep your two eyes on his ten fingers' -- because he's a thief." Two over ten, itself - the expression - means nothing, but if you look at the symbol on the cover, which is the number 2 over the number 10, which looks like the numerical expression meaning "two-tenths", that symbol is part of a collection of symbols that was once used by hoboes traveling from town to town. To make things easier for the next hobo that stumbles into town after them, they would carve symbols into trees, posts and such to let their fellow hoboes know what to expect in that town. In Hobo-language, if you saw "two over ten" it meant. "there are thieves about... so watch what you have." http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/105224363671800.htm http://www.yarnivore.com/francis/archives/2004_04.html Nov 26 08, 6:37 PM