Léperos were viewed as unrespectable people (el pueblo bajo) by polite society (la gente culta), who judged them as being morally and biologically inferior.
Literally meaning "peeled" (barren, bleak, or exposed), the term referred to the penniless urban slum-dwellers or homeless, sometimes migrants from the countryside and un- and under-employed.
But in addition to their predecessors' problems adjusting to urban life and surviving, the "pelado" of the early twentieth century was also wedged between traditional and modern societies.
"Pelado" also means "bald" or "shaven" head, referring to the custom in jails and assistance institutions to cut the inmates' hair in order to prevent lice and other parasites.
According to the comedian, "The peladito is the creature who came from the carpas with a face stained with flour or white paint, dressed in rags, the pants below the waist and covered with patches, the belt replaced by an old tie, the peaked cap representing a hat, the ruffled underwear that shows at any provocation, the torn shirt, and gabardine across his left shoulder.