a different kind of beep

As I was locking my car today I heard the chirpy little beep it gives to assure me that it's secure, and at the same time I heard someone's car alarm going off - a rather annoying beep.  Unless it's my horn or an alarm, I seldom notice car horns because you hear them so often. When I was a teen, 50 some years ago (and yes, cars had been invented then) a beeping horn meant that a friend or cousin was driving by our house.  If I was walking along the sidewalk in our small town and someone beeped, it was a friend or family member saying  hello, usually with a wave.  Horns were friendlier then.