The ahooga takes its name from the sound of early Klaxon car horns and became a staple of golden age animation long before Who Framed Roger Rabbit arrived in 1988. The film, which mixed live action with hand drawn characters, revived those vintage effects for a new audience through its frantic cartoon star. Online, the clip spread through soundboards and meme edits as a shorthand for goofy old timey panic, in the same tradition as the Woody Woodpecker laugh, and it remains a quick way to make a scene feel deliberately cartoonish.