Honk if you also didn’t know what this meant

in Random Crap

So this morning I was telling Victor that I’d only recently realized that all of those “HONK IF YOU’RE HORNY” bumper stickers that everyone inexplicably had on their car when we were kids were not actually a call for other drivers to indicate they wanted to have sex, and that instead it was to keep people from honking at you when you did something wrong, because if someone wanted to honk angrily at you they probably wouldn’t if you had that sticker because it’s basically like admitting, “Yes I am sexually unfulfilled and want people to know it” and then no one ever honks at you.

And Victor was like, “Duh. Of course that’s what it meant” and then I started to wonder if I was the only person who’d thought the HONK IF YOU’RE HORNY movement was just for pervy swingers to find each other without leaving the car so then I asked two other friends and they were like, “First off, where were you when you saw this bumper sticker? 1982?” and then they admitted that they didn’t know what it meant either and so we looked it up and the internet was like, “HONK IF YOUR HORNY was a jokey play on words because you use a car horn to honk“, and somehow this is even worse because that’s not even funny and basically the whole world was driving around with a lightly sexual dad joke on their car in the 80s?

Anyway, honk if you also didn’t know this because I’m feeling very dumb right now.

131 thoughts on “Honk if you also didn’t know what this meant”

Read comments below or add one.

  7. There was a whole thing about this in a group I’m in. It seems like the majority of the people who did not understand were also neurodivergent. Yet another thing that makes me think maybe I am undiagnosed.

  9. And all this time I thought it was a play on the word “horn”, you know, the thing you use to honk.

  11. We all obviously took the bumper sticker at face value. Maybe it WASN’T a clever reverse psychology statement. Maybe it’s just as simple as it sounds.

  13. And the 1970s — you’re not alone! While riding the school bus in Jr. High and High School, we sometimes would hold up signs that said, “Honk if you’re horny,” occasionally with a Horned/Horny Toad drawn on them (and this was before I knew anything about TCU and their Killer Frogs) and received quite a lot of honks. Teenaged kids are weird and apparently so were 1970s drivers.

  14. I did not know. Also, I had a VW bug with a horn that sounded like Harpos horn so my friends and I joked, Harpo if you’re horny. 🤷‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

  15. I think this is some sort of revisionist history movement trying to rewrite the meaning of „Honk if“ bumperstickers. Because as far as I have ever known, EVERYONE took them at face value.

  16. I never made that connection. I always thought it was just one of those 70s/80s things and was supposed to funny because of the pun. I definitely didn’t go further than that.

  18. Back in the 70’s, when I was a teen, it was a simpler, sexual, time, and I’ve no doubt “Honk if you’re horny” was exactly what it seemed like – a gesture to sexual freedom (we can talk about such things in the open now) and a light double entendre. We had lots of such things on bumper stickers back then.

  19. #14 Comment – I hope Harpo was the car’s name!! 😂

    I didn’t know that either. I don’t remember seeing that bumper sticker, but even reading it just now in your post it didn’t click until you explained it. I’ve always said if you have to explain the joke, it’s not funny. You’re definitely not alone, Jenny!

  21. I just had this realization a few weeks ago!!! I think some people use those types of bumper stickers to deter honking while others may want others to honk in solidarity. I never understood them before because I thought “why on earth would I want people to honk at me?” But now I know it’s a joke on the people who are doing the honking

  24. I’m 69, & honk! honk! honk! I’m still not sure I believe it; this was an era when bumper stickers stated: “Gas, Grass, or Ass; Nobody Rides For Free!”

  26. I don’t remember that bumper stick too much and if I saw it I wouldn’t have gotten that either.

  28. The neurodivergent disabled groups on FB have been discussing this for about the entire year. We am thought those bumper stickers meant you liked whatever (“honk if you like pizza”) if you honked, not that it meant that if you honked because you were upset at the driver with the bumper sticker they were announcing they were gonna take it instead as you liked whatever their sticker said, which was supposed to make you not want to honk at them. Whereas the neurotypicals are all going, “how did you neurodivergents not know that?!” Never heard that reason for the horny one, though, and am doubtful, but I’m in the ND category and thought it meant you just liked pizza or whatever, so I’m not a good judge of what it means, apparently…

  30. In the 80s my car’s horn was a recording that shouted “Hi Horny, I’m Dad!”

  33. Yeah I thought it meant you we’re horny not you were being deterred from honking
    Go team neurodivergent!

    I’m in my 60s and have been diagnosed as autistic savant since before it was even represented on any mainstream media

  36. I’m 65 years old and have never seen a Honk If You’re Horny bumper sticker. Maybe it wasn’t a thing in Ohio?

  37. TOTALLY thought it meant “honk if you’re a sexual degenerate that secretly wants the world to know”!

  41. I thought it was a slightly cringy dad joke. Never thought of it as a deterrent. As if.

  44. I thought I was cool. Surfer girl in Santa Barbara. Now I guess I am not. I never heard of this. But, then again, I wear pegged jeans, listen to Billy Idol and Elvis Costello and still say ‘dude’. I don’t care. I still think I am cool. Honk if you’re a goofball old person. I will honk back!

  45. It was written by the asshole that keeps bothering me and my girlfriend when we go out for couple of drinks at the neighborhood pub.

  47. If you’re dumb, so am I, and at least on good days I don’t think I’m dumb. I always just thought it was a silly joke. It would never have crossed my mind that it was supposed to deter people from being quick to honk. Maybe I just know too many people who would have no problem sticking their heads out the window if their horns didn’t work and yelling, “Yeah, I’m horny!”

  52. I’m 65 and always took it at face value! Like the poster at 2:41 said, there were loads of sexual innuendo bumper stickers in the 70s and 80s!

  53. I thought it was so people wouldn’t want to honk because they’d be embarrassed, also! 🤣

  54. I thought it too was for horny swingers to find each other without leaving the car. And without swapping keys. So once again, you’re right!

  56. It’s a double entendre, it first started showing up in the late 60’s-‘70’s as a tongue in cheek dad joke being a little naughty and swingers adopted it.
    I always thought it was so cringy and crass, but hey, a lot of polite societal conventions went by the wayside after the 1950’s ended.

  59. Beep beep. Absolutely sexual. Always thought it was stupid and just asking for trouble. Maybe Victor is… wrong?

  63. Not gonna lie….it never occurred to me that it was a honk deterrent. It also never occurred to me that it might be an invitation, but as you say, that was 1982 and I was 10. By the time I might have caught on, they weren’t around anymore.

  64. Totally thought it was the latter explanation. It never occurred to me that it might act as a deterrent. I grew up in the SF Bay Area where we regularly spotted “Streakers” (70’s and early 80s) and shouted out so all those around us wouldn’t miss the event. “Honk if you’re horny” was relatively tame and I assumed it was just a Dad Joke type of thing.

  66. Well I’m old enough to remember those and I thought the same thing you did, so no worries, you’re in good company!

  70. Honk honk. I was in middle school at the time. How was I supposed to know? And haven’t thought about that bumper sticker in a few decades so at least I have that excuse as an adult?!? Maybe?!?

  76. I remember sitting down to dinner at my grandparent’s and my younger sister saying ‘Hey, I saw a funny bumper sticker today! It said ‘Honk if you’re horny!’. and the table went QUIET!!! HAHAHAHAH!

  78. I did know that this was a terrible play on words. However, years later I’m still reeling over the true explanation for why did the chicken cross the road. So, thank you.

  79. All I know is that in 1967 we ate Bugles to let the world know what we wanted. All those little horns spoke for us ;-}

  85. I took it literally. I take a few too many things literally, I’ve begun to realize. And I’m 72, so that’s kind of a long time to figure it out.

  87. I knew the dad joke and the mating call, but the honking deterrent never occurred to me.

  90. I also thought it was for people looking to hook up, like a pre-dating app version of creating a profile (putting a sticker on your car), then waiting for someone to swipe right (honk). But I appreciate the sly way to reduce angry honking because I find those people insufferable.

  91. I remember the “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers, which were definitely a call for solidarity/unification, and thought the horny ones were an answer to or twist on that. I’ve always seen the “Honk if…” bumper stickers as a solidarity kind of thing, not an attempt at embarrassing someone. Just the fact that you only knew enough about your car to find the horn, I felt, was embarrassment enough.

  93. Jenny, you’re not alone. As Stan in Southpark is fond of saying, “I learned something today.” I was in the people looking for hookups/pervy camp. And now that we’re discussing this, Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin’s SNL bit about “We’re just two wild and crazy guys” is renting space in my brain because those two characters would have taken that bumper sticker literally also.

  94. Just asked my husband, both of us are Gen X, and neither of us knew Honk If You’re Horny was a joke. I thought it was gross and was really upset that a good-looking guy I was interested in had it on his car. It became an instant “No” for me.

    Honk if you’re Horny. They should hand had a horn on it. I’m rolling my eyes so hard they might get sprained.

  102. This question made me realize that those bumper stickers always kind of confused me because I never really understood what they meant and now I’m feeling sheepish AND grateful I’m not alone in this!

  104. I had no idea either.

    On a side note, we used to have a bumper sticker on our station wagon when I was a kid that said “I brake for whales.”

  107. I’m 69 years old and I had no idea that’s what that meant. I thought it was just another immature male thing.

  108. I always thought it was for horny guys when I grew up. I’m in my late sixties now, so please do honk anytime. Oh, but then again I don’t have a car. Perhaps I should stick the sign on what is now my chassis.

  109. *honk* *honk*
    But the whole reverse psychology/ social programming thing sounds far too complex to be true. Occam’s razor – the simpler explanation, taking it at face value makes a lot more sense to me.

    It reminds me of an anecdote tho – A guy pulls up at a red light behind a car with a “honk if you love Jesus” sticker. He’s a Christian, so he honks. The driver of the car with the sticker flips him the bird, clearly furious to be honked at. The first guy turns to his passenger with a shocked expression and says “must be his wife’s car…”

  110. I had this same conversation with my husband a few months ago and he looked at my like I was crazy 😂😂 so you are definitely not alone!

  111. This makes me think of an I Think You Should Leave sketch with that sticker 😁

  113. I really never understood that sticker as well. Since I would not want to share my personal heat with anyone. That leads me to question the stickers for ” baby on board”. Does that mean we should drive carefully only if there is a baby on board?? The other passengers become irrelevant? Well all I can say is I will drive when I am not in heat and those folks with children don’t have to worry.

  114. Heh

    Yeah. I was clueless. That being said, I was also in the thralls of puberty around that time. So, there is that whole ball of deviancy.

  116. Answer is, Victor is wrong. Let him be wrong, emphasize his wrongness. Let him sit in his wrongness and stew. HOOOOONNNNNNNNNKKKKKK.

  118. I feel stupid. I never got the meaning before today. Now I’ll be obsessing over it.

  119. I’m with kaitbroe, and absolutely astonished that it took 116 comments to come up with the right answer!

    You, and by extension we, were right all along, all our lives. Yay us.

  120. I’d no idea what those bumper sticker types were trying to tell me other than they were gross and I didn’t wanna know them like that.

  121. I thought it meant “honk if you’re horny,” nothing more and nothing less. Kinda like the song I sang in church as a kid: “if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!”

    Turns out I have ADHD and possibly autism – I’m going to take what you say at face value and embarrass everyone!

  122. I’m with you Jenny, I always thought it was for pervy swingers and/or some kind of sexual liberation thing.

  123. You’re probably in the same camp as me, whichever neurodivergent camp that is. I suspect I’m in two of them.

    Wait till you hear the joke about the chicken that crossed the road… Apparently it’s a pun about the other side being a reference to death. Yep. I didn’t know this until it was explained to me at 41 years old.

  125. I only learned this a month ago and the reasoning makes me even more annoyed than the stickers themselves.

  128. You are definitely not alone in this! I always thought these bumper stickers were some kind of weird, niche joke for people in the know. The idea that it’s just a play on words about car horns is disappointing – it’s like the punchline to a joke that never got through. In general, car owners have a rather specific humor. However, if you want to become one of the owners of a great car, you should check out https://www.faxvin.com/license-plate-lookup for all the comprehensive information about it. But it was the 80s. Maybe such jokes were the height of comedy back then?

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  130. Oh my gosh, I had no idea about the real meaning of those bumper stickers! That’s hilarious and kind of embarrassing. Thanks for the laugh. I guess we can add this to the list of things we didn’t know until now.

    khalidelarbi
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    خرده
    اغانى مهرجانات

  131. I thought that it meant what it said too. I thought people wanted the world to know they were horny and ready to get it on.

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