# Catcalls and Things People Shout at You from Cars **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124 "2009-07-24T14:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Baby\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@Baby\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baby_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/81 "2009-07-27T18:16:59Z")
**badbadrubberpiggy** , that reminds me of the time I was at a toll booth, and the attendant told me I was his angel. He then said, “Now you know I’m not flirting with you or anything. Because you don’t do that with angels. I just wanted to say you’re beautiful.” I thought it was sweet. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/82 "2009-07-27T22:45:35Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > I’m a guy for point of reference. > > I run a lot, and when I used to live in the suburbs, there’d be a lot of random honks and people shouting. I think it was usually just high schoolers getting a kick out of yelling at someone who dared to get exercise. It was generally stuff I couldn’t quite understand (“Hey kjasdhg…!”). I moved into the city about a year ago, and thought that it would stop. It’s less, and percentage-wise based on the amount of traffic, it’s considerably less than before, but I simply don’t understand it. The dumbest is when I hear someone yell “Run, Forest!” All I can do is think, “Wow, what a timely and relevant quip!” Forest Gump is 15 years old, and people still yell that? Great. I’ll probably have to put up with that the rest of my running life. > > One time, while walking between bars in a neighborhood that could be described as progressive, I was with my gf. She had shorter hair, and it was cold enough that we both had jackets on, though I was wearing a baseball cap. Out of the blue, and this is on a slightly busy road, a truck drove by and the passenger shouted “Fucking queers!” I could only think that they’d gotten it wrong, as we were, in fact, _not_ queer. My gf didn’t hear exactly what they said and asked me what they’d shouted; knowing it wouldn’t do her esteem a lot of good to tell her she’d been mistaken for a guy, I just left it at “Fucking [something]!” > > The one time I can remember yelling (actually, I was driving, and my friend yelled) was on a road trip in California. We’d had a long, long day of visiting LA and then driving up the coast, and were trying to find a hotel in a city with few rooms available. We were in San Luis Obispo, and near the town center, I think, there was a park with the sprinklers going. It was around midnight, and someone was just out for a walk, and not quite to the sprinklers yet. My friend yelled “You’re going to get wet!” It cracked me up then, and still cracks me up, just knowing that we were tired and frustrated, and anything remotely funny was going to be amplified by 5x. You’re not the only one… My wife and I were running on the shoulder of Birch Bay Drive in beautiful Birch Bay, Washington (well, it is beautiful - the inhabitants are another story) when a pickup (it’s always a pickup) came up from behind us and someone yelled “Off the road, faggots!” Ok, my wife has short hair, but looks exactly nothing like a man. Perhaps the inability to tell the difference between males and females is what keeps some people yelling from their pickups and not, you know, dating. And we were off the road, well onto the dirt shoulder. Was it really so necessary to “out” my wife as a “faggot” that you were forced to yell something that wasn’t even taking place? Beer is too cheap, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/83 "2009-07-28T15:40:54Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I had no idea how common this was. So what I’m getting is that having alcohol, a car, and a penis all at once leads people to shout gibberish that essentially means “I have a car and a penis” at anyone who doesn’t appear to have both. Actually, the “Fuck you, I’m in a car” translation of gibberish comes from experiences when we’d be walking around in mixed-gender groups. So in this case, it’s against pedestrians, not women in specific. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/84 "2009-07-28T17:20:17Z")
Coincidentally, yesterday my 18 year old daughter came home from work and said she wasn’t sure whether she ought to be upset or pleased at being catcalled, as had just happened to her. When I started to mention my experience with kids yelling at me out cars, she insisted on distinguishing that from someone commenting on my attractiveness - something that clearly never would happen to me! Thanks a lot, kid! How soon can you leave for college? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/85 "2009-07-28T17:59:21Z")
> [@ashman165](#): > > Maybe you misheard his saying “You’re P.H.A.T”. I had a German girlfriend about twelve years ago who told me her story of walking down a street in the Logan Square neighborhood and, as a black dude passed by her, he turned back with a wolf whistle, yelling “Man, girl, you are _fat_!” with an unusually positive tone of voice and a smile on his face. She was utterly befuddled by the disconnect between the apparent insult and cat call. Later, some friends explained to her (and I confirmed) that the word he was using was “phat,” not “fat,” and had a very different meaning, mostly used in African-American slang (at least I have never heard a white person use that term unironically). A free ESL lesson in practice, courtesy of the street. The word itself, I want to say, dates to at least the early 90s, if not late 80s, so it’s not out of the question **Anaamika** ’s experience of the word might be using this meaning. I get the sense it’s a bit outmoded these days, but I’m not as closely connected to current slang as I used to be, so someone else will have to weigh in. The acronym explanations of the etymology (“pretty hot and tasty” and its variants) smell fishy to me, and the most sensible explanation to me would be that it’s a spelling variant of “fat”, with the word being subverted in the way “bad” means “good” or something likewise positive. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/86 "2009-07-28T21:28:39Z")
> [@lshaw](#): > > It’s pretty disgusting hearing about how so many people have gotten “nice tits!” or “nice ass!” yelled at them. No one has ever shouted those phrases at me from the safety of their cars, but two people actually went up to me and FELT my ass. Same thing happened to me, and I’m a guy. I was 19 and walking down a street in the Bronx; 3 women about age 30 came up behind me, made kissy sounds and other rude noises; then one of them pinched my butt. Weird - and as much as I would have thought a 19 year old guy would LIKE that sort of thing, it turns out I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kiante\_83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc29f/32.png) [@Kiante\_83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiante_83)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/87 "2009-07-29T00:55:42Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > Once I was hanging out on Christopher Street, in the Village (New York City, two block from the Stonewall Inn, _The Stroll_). > > A group of white guys drove by and yelled out the window, “NIGGGGGEEEEERRRRRR!” > > I couldn’t even react because I had to stand there a minute, wondering why they hadn’t yelled out “FAGGGGGOOOOOTTTTT!” I guess this would be a half-way quote but back when I had a white girlfriend for a good two years (06) and seeming as though there’s not a lot of walking goin on in Motown, in the summer time when we were in the droptop I would either get “NIGGGGGGGEEEERRRRRRR” or she would get “NIGGER LOVVVEEERRRRRR” from ussually young speeding passerbys. All we would do was laugh.. I guess some things never change. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/88 "2009-07-29T02:38:40Z")
I was walking my dog once, and a teenage girl on the far side of a four-lane road leaned out the window of an SUV and screamed, “I LOVE YOUR DOG!” Which is understandable. He’s very lovable. But how many other people can say that their dog has been catcalled? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/89 "2009-07-29T04:41:38Z")
Catcalls? I never in my whole life even had someone whistle at me. Oh sure many women and even a couple of men have looked in my direction and puckered up their lips but what came out of their mouths was an entirely different noise all together. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/90 "2009-07-29T04:48:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I was walking my dog once, and a teenage girl on the far side of a four-lane road leaned out the window of an SUV and screamed, “I LOVE YOUR DOG!” > > Which is understandable. He’s very lovable. But how many other people can say that their dog has been catcalled? I don’t know how many times I’ve told people that I love their dogs. I don’t scream it, though. I don’t scream things, unless it’s something like “Your hair is on fire!” or “Fire in the hole!” or something similarly urgent. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/91 "2009-07-29T14:08:45Z")
I thought of this thread last weekend. I was driving with several friends in the car. One guy in the backseat had his window down. As I drove slowly through a small town (Petrolia, PA), he leaned out the window and yelled, “Hey, nice tits!”. To an obese, shirtless dude who was standing in his front yard. It was embarrassing, but he claimed (correctly, I guess) that the guy had the most impressive manboobs he had ever seen, and he was obviously flaunting his rack by going topless. I held my breath during the return trip, but he was not outside. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/92 "2009-07-29T14:11:08Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > The first was when I was pregnant. I was VERY pregnant at the time but you couldn’t tell that by looking at me from the back. I just stuck way out in front, but looked like a regular-sized 16 year old girl from behind. One day I was walking to school and some guys came up in a car from behind me. They shouted and howled and stuff until they came up even with me and saw the Stomach. The catcalls turned into “Dayum! You should have danced all night!” See, I’ve always found this weird. When I was pregnant with my first son, some guy hit on me at the gym while I was wearing a bathing suit and waiting for a lane to open up so I could do some laps. I was in pretty good shape, but dammit, I was five or six months pregnant, and it was pretty obvious. He had been eyeing me earlier, so I thought that maybe he didn’t realize that I was pregnant and married. Plus, he was creeping me out, even though I was trying really hard to ignore him. So I sat down on a nearby bench to wait and stuck my gut out. He sat down and snugged up very close to me and asked me if I was married. When I said yes, he asked me out anyway. I’m pregnant with #2 right now (around 6 1/2 mos) and still sometimes get hit on, even though I’m in slightly worse shape (about a size 12) and not nearly as young as I was with #1. Maybe there are many more fetishists out there than I previously realized? Or perhaps they just think our husbands won’t do us, so we’re desperate for it? Other memorable moments include: -Going into Home Depot a few months ago to pick up a particular power tool I’d been eyeballing. When I stopped an older gentleman for help, he walked me over to the tool I was looking for, offered to help me learn to use it, then when I smiled politely and said I was already aware of how to use it, he said, “Okay, darlin’. I’m just glad I could make you smile. You know, if you give me a half hour, I could make you smile even more.” At this point, my smile vanished and I turned and walked away. -Getting my ass grabbed in a Starbucks last year by some guy in a tie while I was waiting to place an order. I stepped up to the cashier and asked very loudly, “So, is it common to get an ass-grabbing along with my mocha, or is this guy just giving me a free service?” The guy behind me turned and left. I can only imagine he’d been hitting the sauce early or something. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/93 "2009-07-29T14:38:41Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > -Getting my ass grabbed in a Starbucks last year by some guy in a tie while I was waiting to place an order. I stepped up to the cashier and asked very loudly, “So, is it common to get an ass-grabbing along with my mocha, or is this guy just giving me a free service?” The guy behind me turned and left. I can only imagine he’d been hitting the sauce early or something. Free service, FYI, but you are encouraged to tip. 😉 Was the Home Depot guy a store employee? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/94 "2009-07-29T15:25:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I was walking my dog once, and a teenage girl on the far side of a four-lane road leaned out the window of an SUV and screamed, “I LOVE YOUR DOG!” > > Which is understandable. He’s very lovable. But how many other people can say that their dog has been catcalled? Possible retort: “Sorry, he’s married!”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/95 "2009-07-29T15:26:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Free service, FYI, but you are encouraged to tip. 😉 > > Was the Home Depot guy a store employee? :eek: Yes, it was a store employee. At the time, I was trying to decide which was worse: that I was being hit on by someone about 30 years older than me or that he also worked there. I probably should have talked to management, but I just didn’t think about it at the time. All I wanted was to get my Dremmel and leave. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/96 "2009-07-29T15:38:21Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > All I wanted was to get my Dremmel and leave. heh. That was what gramps was talking about. The ole Dremel… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/97 "2009-07-29T16:52:48Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > “aaA[SIZE=“2”]RRR[SIZE=“5”]GGGH[SIZE=“3”]hhhhh[SIZE=“1”]hhhhhh…[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]” That would be a good doper name. Someone once called be “Nerd!” from their car which is pretty lame as insults go. ---
**Author:** ![Other\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Other\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Other_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/98 "2009-07-30T06:08:43Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Someone once called be “Nerd!” from their car which is pretty lame as insults go. Aww, give him a break, he’s learning. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/99 "2009-07-30T19:14:08Z")
> [@Kiante\_83](#): > > I guess this would be a half-way quote but back when I had a white girlfriend for a good two years (06) and seeming as though there’s not a lot of walking goin on in Motown, in the summer time when we were in the droptop I would either get “NIGGGGGGGEEEERRRRRRR” or she would get “NIGGER LOVVVEEERRRRRR” from ussually young speeding passerbys. All we would do was laugh.. I guess some things never change. I havn’t been "Niggerlover"d since the last time I was in the US. At first it was annoying - then I got all self righteous about it - the three of us friends were cycling - the two guys made it through the lights but me and the niggerlovershouter got held up at the red light so I banged on his window going “Yea, I’m the niggerlover - what do you want.” I can still see his panicked expression. He’s AFRAID of niggerlovers really! Another racial one - I would drive home after work late at night past a certain corner - from the group of guys there one would have to shout out: “Hey you fucking white 'scunt!” I just kept driving until one night I put a stop to it mwuhahahah, I skreetched the brakes, backed up and said: “Hey fellas - my 'scunt’s PINK!” They like me now. :dubious: Me pushing the baby in the pram Kerb crawling comdedian: Wanna go halves on another one? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124/100 "2009-07-30T20:19:42Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I thought of this thread last weekend. I was driving with several friends in the car. One guy in the backseat had his window down. As I drove slowly through a small town (Petrolia, PA), he leaned out the window and yelled, “Hey, nice tits!”. > > To an obese, shirtless dude who was standing in his front yard. It was embarrassing, but he claimed (correctly, I guess) that the guy had the most impressive manboobs he had ever seen, and he was obviously flaunting his rack by going topless. [Obligatory “The City” link](http://www.derfcity.com/cityarchive/recentstuff/recent3.html) (though I’d prefer the one with envious Miss Plastic-Tits but it’s not online). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catcalls-and-things-people-shout-at-you-from-cars/504124.md?page=6)