The Bender Honk

Last week, the driver behind me honked his horn one second after the light turned green. Not a gentle tap, a long, loud blast that dialed my day down a notch. Maybe two. But it also got me thinking about the Bender honk.

It all started when Grandpa and Grandma Bender sold their farm. Moving off the land brought them out of the backroad hills into a bungalow on State Route 669. In the community around them lived their children and more than 50 grandchildren, who sometimes passed by on the way to work or school or the grocery store.

Sitting at breakfast or tending the garden or baking cookies, my grandparents would hear three quick honks of a horn and know—a Bender had just passed by. These honks dialed their days up a notch. Likely two notches or three. Someone out there cared about them, remembered them.

And from the start of automotive history, this was what horns were meant to be—a kindness. Back when cars were new and unusual, and it was courteous to let people know you were coming up from behind. In fact, it was rude not to honk.

This mindset continued in the 1930s when electric horns were standardized. Engineers opted for a polite sound—the two-note combination of E-flat and C. This musical tone pleased the ear, but was also firm and hard for the brain to ignore.

Then cars got faster. And their interiors more soundproof. So manufacturers scaled it up, using  F-sharp and A-sharp, an interval that is piercing and urgent, especially since car horns are often out of tune with harsh, metallic vibrations. It sounds wrong, somehow, not inviting attention but grabbing it—the perfect notes for an emergency.

But not for a one-second gain through a traffic light.

There are lots of ways to put a hand to the horn—short beeps, long beeps, multiple short beeps. And lots of reasons—anger, warning, celebration, friendliness. But my favorite is the Bender honk.

Not many Benders live in my town. But one does—my mom. And when I drive by her house, I give three taps on my horn. And she knows—a Bender has passed by.