What Does Arab Mean

[sherlock5]

I was looking at the 1880's admissions records for the Middlemore Children's Home and noticed that several of the boys were described as arab or leading "an arab life". It obviously is nothing to do with where he was from but does anyone know what the term means?

 

[mikejee]

Street arab? Definition is "A raggedly dressed homeless child wandering the streets:"

 

[Astonian]

Yes that's correct if no one as never heard it before it was used when I was a little whippersnapper I heard this expression used way back in
My baby years of life if some one had some think lost or stolen one would say to the accused have you took my what ever the item
You theiveing Arab ,or the other wording was some theiving Arab as removed or run off with my things they are missing
It was a quite often used in and around the Aston of Lichfield road and surrounding streets best wishes astonian,,,

 

[Astonian]

It is as mike said no think to do with creed or nationioalality of the human being they was street urchins ASD the Londoners nicked named them in oliver
Poor kids home less and ragged and nicked things to survive a lot of them landed up in jail for long sentences if you can find an old book like I have regarding these kids they either got flogged with the cat ,or done five to seven years for pultrey items but theft is theft in my eyes
But today they still get sentence for meaning less items of stolen like the very old lady in brum stole a small price of cheese for some think to eat
She was in her late sixtys and home less she got six months imprisonment for that imagine years ago it would have been many years I say
How I know of the facts I have a friend whom runs the jurial systems in brum this was also in 1997

 

[sherlock5]

It is as mike said no think to do with creed or nationioalality of the human being they was street urchins ASD the Londoners nicked named them in oliver
Poor kids home less and ragged and nicked things to survive a lot of them landed up in jail for long sentences if you can find an old book like I have regarding these kids they either got flogged with the cat ,or done five to seven years for pultrey items but theft is theft in my eyes
But today they still get sentence for meaning less items of stolen like the very old lady in brum stole a small price of cheese for some think to eat
She was in her late sixtys and home less she got six months imprisonment for that imagine years ago it would have been many years I say
How I know of the facts I have a friend whom runs the jurial systems in brum this was also in 1997

Thank you all very much. It does make sense why they were in a home