Talk:Begging

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Can you please found something about the history of begging??

Thanks

I got the article started, if anyone can help with the article I'd really appreciate it. During my recent vacation in Chicago I came face to face with begging a few times. It's what led me to get the article started.

• One night I walked about a block from the hotel to the local Walgreens. While I was checking out, a man came up and began asking me for money. The man was getting quite pushy. During the night, a security guard was in the establishment, and the cashier had the security guard remove the man from the store. The guard said it wasn't the first time the man had been a problem, that he was regularly doing this.
• A couple times I was asked if I had any money to spare. I also seen people sitting on the sidewalks asking passerby for donations.
• Another thing that came to mind was that when I was driving near Midway Airport, this man was trying to sell stuff to drivers. He was going up and down in between cars, and darting in and out of traffic. I just remember thinking how incredibly dangerous it was. If I had a cell phone on me, I might have called the police to report it. Not only was the traffic quite heavy, but there were a number of semi trucks on the road. All it would have taken was one wrong move and the man could have been seriously injured or even killed.
• Finally, one time about 15 years ago, a transient came to our farmhouse, and asked if we had any jobs he could do.

I'm sure there's other stories out there on this subject that would be just as interesting, if not more so.

JesseG 04:15, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Believe it or not, not all who beg are homeless or even neccessarily poor and the article should not have made such a claim.

- A very valid point. When I worked in a grocery store a "professional beggar" came in on a daily basis to change his dollar bills in for something larger. He almost always had at least $100. He lived in an apartment, and when it rained he would sometimes call a taxi to take him home.

Contents 1 NPOV? 2 Beggars may be dangerous 3 Cyberbegging and Begging on the Internet 4 Cyber Begging Article Does Not Need to Be Merged 5 Revisions 6 Other kinds of beggers 7 Medieval begger

[edit] NPOV?

The first few entries in the list of "spange lines" seem to be described in a somewhat contemptuous manner. Note, for example, the quotes around the word "clever."

[edit] Beggars may be dangerous

I have one beggar who who called me a murderer after he said that he had to feed their families. He called me a "murderer" because that I refused to give them money. When I noticed he had a big, long knife in his pocket, I immediately gave him some spare change and scrambled off to my car as fast as I could. -- Stevey7788 06:02, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cyberbegging and Begging on the Internet

I propose a merger. Cyberbegging is just attracting spam (HTML links to promote their cyberbegging site). -- Perfecto  19:31, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cyber Begging Article Does Not Need to Be Merged

No need for a big long debate. There is a mature article about this subject under Internet begging. Also, Internet begging is a distinct enough phenomenon to warrant a separate article. Schmeitgeist 23:40, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Revisions

I made a number of changes -- many of the sections were riddled with contemptuous and clearly biased language. All instances of the pejorative term 'mark' were changed to 'solicited' or a variation thereof, and words like "clever" were removed.

I also removed a ridiculous sentence that suggested begging was inexcusable in times of economic prosperity & which had been linked to a newspaper editorial page. Nickinmontreal 01:38, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other kinds of beggers

What about the salvation army kettle drives, aren't they begging for money,or are they "asking" for a "donation"? Or how about little leauge hocky teams, girl guides,or other "charities" that stand out side buisnesses(malls,convienience stores,gas stations) and "solicite" for money? It's still begging,one is nicely presented, while the others not. A beggar is still a begger...just food for thought

Heck, for that matter, what about PBS? Never quite understood why panhandling laws don't apply to them.... -- Kendrick7^talk 22:59, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Medieval begger

I found the picture of the Medieval begger somewhat comedic. If other people think this is funny maybe it should be removed. It's next to 'real' beggers who are obviously in a bad way and then there is this guy who is in a park in some first world country dressed up with an almost grin on his face.

Sure, some are in a "bad way", others go panhandling as a joke - it varies. However, the picture caption could be updated a bit to make it more realistic - no need to censor an appropriate image. 134.117.137.66 22:57, 19 March 2007 (UTC)