# Is honking considered offensive now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412 "2006-08-05T01:01:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Electrical\_Storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@Electrical\_Storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electrical_Storm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/21 "2006-08-05T17:19:59Z")
[QUOTE=pullin] In Texas, a horn means: “Please draw your weapon, as I wish to have a shootout”. Trust me, I don’t honk here. Ever. [/QUOTE] I’ve tapped the horn gently to let drivers of Extremely Large Vehicles changing lanes at the speed of sound know they’re about to steamroll over my compact car. Yep, got the, “Got yer sixguns ready, bitch?” middle finger waving out the window. Driving rush hour in Austin…sheesh. It’s ALL one big shoot-out. :rolleyes: The late \*\*Mother Silver1’s \*\* Oldsmobile tank that she drove in the 1980’s…now THAT car had a **horn**! I loved driving her car not because it was the size of a Sherman tank, but because the horn sounded like a pack of stampeding elephants. It could blast out windows a full city block away. It was cool. 😃 I tells ya, I got some **respect** in that car. No, not THAT kind of respect. It was my mother’s car, come on! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/22 "2006-08-05T17:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] I’ve long thought that the car horn needed more “bandwidth”. There should be at least three distinctive tones, one meaning “I politely request you to notice the light has turned green”, another meaning “Hey! Look out! You are driving like you do not I am here, and may hit me!”, and one for expressing hatred and profanity unfit for this forum. Oh, and another for when you recognize friends on the road and want to get their attention. [/QUOTE] George Gershwin got by with only two different car-horn tones when orchestrating the score for _An American in Paris_, or was it four? Ironically, the city of Paris later banned car horns entirely. So Gershwin’s musical portrait of the city doesn’t even sound like it. ---
**Author:** ![934spe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/9/90db22/32.png) [@934spe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/934spe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/23 "2006-08-05T18:03:02Z")
I’m a honker. I have come to realize that I have horrible road rage, not the kind where you pull up and shoot the guy, but where you get pissed and pound on the steering wheel while stuck in traffic (thing the opening of Office Space)… I will honk at a car if it sits at a green light too long, I will honk and yell… I guess I am just an ass… ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/24 "2006-08-05T18:13:04Z")
Did you consider the possibility that the driver may have stalled out? This happened to me pretty frequently when I was getting re-acquainted with the manual (especially on the steep hills around my place of employment) and more than one person honked at me, which only added annoyance to my frustration. I was tempted many times to shoot the bird. ---
**Author:** ![tashabot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tashabot/32/6250_2.png) [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/25 "2006-08-05T19:51:58Z")
[QUOTE=Sad and Deranged] If it is, no one has informed me. When I was learning how to drive, my instructor told me that blasting the horn was a no no, but it was a good tool to use to inform of the other drivers of my exisitance. So, today, I was making a quick trip to the grocery store on my scooter. When pulling out of the parking lot, there is a traffic light. It only turns green when it senses that a few cars are lining up for a while. This makes it easy for many drivers to sit and sit and sit and get lost in their thoughts while waiting. While leaving, I sat at the light for a while waiting for it to turn green. When it finally did, the car in front of me sat idle for a while. I gave him about five seconds to get going, but when I realised he wasn’t going to, I gave a quick tap on the horn. He then stuck his hand out the window and flipped me off. 😕 It wasn’t a blast of the horn, just a nice friendly tap to say “Hey buddy, it’s time to put your foot on the gas!” Later, as I was doing even more errands, I was riding behind a car, in the left lane, that was going a little bit slower than the flow of traffic. I thought she realise that at one point during the stretch of road when she pulled into the right lane. About two seconds later, it seems like she changed her mind and swerved back into the left lane. I know that being on a scooter makes me less visible so she probably neglected to see me, so I gave the horn a tap again, to let her know that she just cut off another vehicle on the road. She rolled down the windows and told me I was a “fucking bitch!” :eek: All this rage just because I honked my horn at someone? What the hell gives? [/QUOTE] I have a very small car (almost Geo Metro sized) and a lot of people who drive SUVs don’t seem to realize I’m there. Having driven large cars before, I realize it’s an easy mistake to make. So I’m not above leaning on my horn when they, or anyone else, is doing something that might hurt me, or if they don’t seem to realize the light is green. I only use my horn if I have to, because I don’t like being honked at (even if I’m doing something wrong…I think it’s an embarassment thing), but if I’m about to be merged into and have nowhere to go (read: someone else is riding my ass), I’ll use the horn - usually out of fear. Although I have done it when pissed. I was at a four-way stop. The rules here in NV are that the first person to stop gets to go first, and if they all stop at the same time, the person closest to north gets to go. I was at a stop sign and no one else was there, so I started to go and suddenly this elderly lady in an SUV BLOWS through the intersection without stopping, coming about two inches from hitting me. I leaned on my horn hard then, because she deserved to be honked at. It’s called a STOP SIGN for a REASON. Sorry. End rant. ~Tasha ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/26 "2006-08-05T20:27:37Z")
[QUOTE=The Sausage Creature] Did you consider the possibility that the driver may have stalled out? This happened to me pretty frequently when I was getting re-acquainted with the manual (especially on the steep hills around my place of employment) and more than one person honked at me, which only added annoyance to my frustration. I was tempted many times to shoot the bird. [/QUOTE] Understood. I have honked at drivers who (unknown to me right then) stalled at a light. BUT, when they still didn’t go, I assumed that they did indeed have some problem and so I didn’t do so repeatedly. It did help if they made some “frustrated gesture” inside their car that I could see, or if they stuck their hand out the window and waved me to go around if I could. No foul there, no penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/27 "2006-08-06T16:15:15Z")
I got pulled over by a cop in a residential neighborhood of Washington, DC for using my horn to alert the oblivious driver ahead of me that the light had changed, after several seconds of waiting. The cop didn’t give me a ticket but looked pissed off that anyone had dared to use a car horn on his beat. I’ve heard the phrase “New York minute” (or “New York second”) defined as the infinitesimal length of time in Manhattan between the light turning green in front of you and the driver behind you leaning on his horn. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/28 "2006-08-06T18:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] I got pulled over by a cop in a residential neighborhood of Washington, DC for using my horn to alert the oblivious driver ahead of me that the light had changed, after several seconds of waiting. The cop didn’t give me a ticket but looked pissed off that anyone had dared to use a car horn on his beat. [/QUOTE] Funny, since my impression of DC is that it’s one of the worst places in the nation for people leaning on the horn the second a light turns green. I dunno. I think a polite toot of the horn is OK after a few seconds, but I don’t see the need to lean on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/29 "2006-08-06T18:28:27Z")
(Oh, and I’m not accusing you of anything of the sort, **Johanna** ; I’m just speaking in general terms.) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/30 "2006-08-06T18:39:10Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Honking has always been considered rude in these parts (the Deep South). Here, a horn should only be used in the most extreme circumstances, say to alert someone when you are in their blind spot and they start to pull over. [/QUOTE] Not true. I grew up in the south and I remember one of my mom’s friends telling me that when she learned to drive, she was instructed to honk her horn while passing someone, continuously from when the passing maneuver was begun until you are back in your own lane in front of the other car. When I took driver’s ed, I noticed that my instructor was old as the hills so I asked him about this and he confirmed that that was indeed what they used to teach people, and everyone practiced it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/31 "2006-08-06T22:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Not true. I grew up in the south and I remember one of my mom’s friends telling me that when she learned to drive, she was instructed to honk her horn while passing someone, continuously from when the passing maneuver was begun until you are back in your own lane in front of the other car. When I took driver’s ed, I noticed that my instructor was old as the hills so I asked him about this and he confirmed that that was indeed what they used to teach people, and everyone practiced it. [/QUOTE] Interesting. I’ve never heard of that practice or seen it in action, but I can imagine how it might have been a useful thing on a rural two-lane, to alert someone not to make a left turn while you are passing them. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/32 "2006-08-06T23:03:43Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Interesting. I’ve never heard of that practice or seen it in action, but I can imagine how it might have been a useful thing on a rural two-lane, to alert someone not to make a left turn while you are passing them. [/QUOTE] That reminds me of one of the biggest fears I had growing up driving on those roads. I was always afraid I’d be passing someone and someone would make a right turn out of their driveway, without looking, right into my front bumper. That’s why I’ve always made it a point to look BOTH ways, even if I’m making a right-turn. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412/33 "2006-08-06T23:15:21Z")
[QUOTE=pullin] In Texas, a horn means: “Please draw your weapon, as I wish to have a shootout”. Trust me, I don’t honk here. Ever. [/QUOTE] Agreed. I learned to drive in Texas. Tapping one’s horn, as the OP described, is friendly and fine. Laying on it is asking for an ass-kicking. Of course, I live in Massachusetts now. Had to unlearn that in a hurry. Massholes communicate via intensity and length of horn blasts. I’m conversent now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-honking-considered-offensive-now/367412.md?page=1)