Wiktionary has:
> Unknown. Possibly a contraction of ho, boy or the dialectal English term hawbuck (“lout, clumsy fellow, country bumpkin”).
What did he agree to?
Also, there must be something wontedly derogatory but technically accurate they could call you for providing this education?!
Condescending?
Call someone a term, then suggest they "research the etymology", then they realize I was right to call them that. Great for me providing them education!
Technically, he's a "beachcombing barnacle" if Wikipedia's slang terms are accurate. After graduating with a mechanical engineering degree, he rode a dirt bike across the country to CA with no plan, and couch-surfed for a while on another coworker's boat at the harbor. He eventually stopped by our office on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere, poked around a while, then asked for a job he was woefully unqualified for. We offered him an internship based mostly on his exceptional tenacity, and he's now been with the company full time for several years.
Tangentially related, I once told a coworker that he was a hobo. He was also offended, but I suggested he do a bit of research on the etymology. He realized that he was indeed a hobo.