Random Ponderance of the Week

I know there are lots more important things I could write about, and should gather my thoughts on, but something has really been perplexing me, and so I'm taking a friends' suggestion and writing about it.

What is the purpose of men yelling out of car windows at women who are walking by? Or for that matter, attempting to communicate at all when the two parties are moving incompatibly (i.e. driving in opposite directions, across an intersection, the aforementioned driving v. walking/biking/jogging... you get the idea)?

Now, I'm not talking about obscenities or catcalls. That's another post, and would inspire more annoyance than curiosity. I am just truly confused about why a man would call out to me while I'm taking my daily lunch break walk, when he's in a car and knows good and well he's not pulling over. I mean, it doesn't stop my fresh air fitness, but I find it silly.

The action doesn't seem to serve any real purpose- he's not making any sort of real connection- most of the time I can hardly even see his face to remember him, if that was his goal. We don't exchange names, certainly not contact information, and on the days when I'm trying to make a phone call, he's not even likely to get a wave.

(a fellow confused victim of the drive-by holler)

I just don't get it. Not that I'm under the delusion that every man is looking for commitment, but like, what could you want that you can get in 5 seconds on a street in the middle of the steam of a DC summer? You aren't going to give me a ride, which is the only incentive I could see for a woman entertaining the nonsense that is a drive-by holler. And why on Earth would you want to roll down your window, letting out all the good air conditioning?
When this question was posed to a few guys I trust to be honest, they said (after, of
course assuring me that they NEVER do this) it was pretty much the closest thing to real life facebook. Translation- no risk, because he can drive away before the rejection comes. Hiding behind his steering wheel is probably even more effective than hiding behind a computer screen, since I don't even have a profile to block. Of course, the corollary to this lack of risk is a lack of success. You will, 87% of the time, get nothing of substance from this interaction. (That 87% is for the women this MUST work on or it wouldn't have become a technique.) In fact, with women of temperaments other than mine, you're likely to get annoyance instead of amusement, which would seem to be the opposite of the goal of such interaction...

But, perhaps this isn't really about anything of "substance." Perhaps it's just an attempt to be heard in an anonymous world? Like a real-time facebook status, maybe these guys just want someone to know they're there... I guess I don't begrudge them that, I mean, everybody needs somebody, and maybe that's the closest they get.

Still, I gotta put this up there with facebook poking- wasteful and odd, and pretty much pointless. Thumbs down guys, thumbs down.