What does the word hashing regarding a job in the 1930's?

Answer 1

Oh, dude, hashing in the 1930s was slang for doing menial tasks or odd jobs. It's like when your boss is like, "Hey, go hash those papers," and you're just like, "Sure, whatever." So, yeah, hashing back then was basically just doing grunt work without much glory.

Answer 2

This is mentioned in the story by Tillie Olsen called I Stand Here Ironing. She says "after a while I found a job hashing at night so I could be with her days." This would have been in the mid 1930;s during the WPA.