We’re preparing for a road trip in a couple of weeks, and one of the tasks on the list is getting the car ready to make the 700-mile trip.  I don’t drive much these days, since I work from home, and that means that oil changes and tire rotations get forgotten. The Honda CRV has 86,000 miles on it, and I’d like to make sure it can stand another 1500 or so without a problem.

I’ve managed to get all the inspections done in the last two days, but it’s been a while since I’ve had to drive at rush hour on a Thursday through the major intersection in my neighborhood. I had forgotten that a local chapter of United for Peace and Justice holds “Honk 4 Peace” rallies on the street corner each Thursday evening.  I’m a big fan of peaceful assembly, even when I disagree with the cause, and these are exactly as harmless as you’d expect in a Minnesota suburb.  The protestors eagerly solicit people to honk, acting as though each toot of a car horn gives a UN angel his wings, and usually the small crowd includes a couple of amusing lunatics. Today, one elderly man held aloft a sign that claimed that Lockheed Martin is the biggest war profiteer in the world, along with a lot of other gibberish that was (a) too small to read, and (b) too much for cars speeding by at 45 MPH.

While I was stopped at the intersection, two of the five or six people involved were too busy talking on cell phones to hold their signs up, and in any event they didn’t get too many takers.  The only annoying thing about them is that they encourage people to slow down while passing by, and it worsens an already-bad traffic bottleneck.

Anyway, while passing through the Honk 4 Peacers, I began mulling over in my mind how to refer to them.  After all, the Left had taken to calling Tea Party protestors “teabaggers” as a way to belittle the demonstrators and amuse themselves.  I thought about it all the way home, and the only thing I could come up with was … honkies.

Think that’ll catch on?

Update: Oh, man, an even better one from the comments: hornies.