Rubbernecking

Posted by R. Berg on February 17, 2001

In Reply to: Rubbernecking posted by Barney on February 16, 2001

: : : : : : Does anyone know where the term "Rubbernecking" comes from?Cheers

: : : : : The Oxford English Dictionary identifies it as U.S. slang and gives quotations from 1899 ("'To rubberneck' or, more concisely, 'to rubber' . . . is to crane the neck in curiosity, to pry round the corner") and 1902 ("Recent slang has coined the word 'rubberneck' for a gaping fellow in the street, who turns his head this way and that"). A separate entry for "rubber," labeled "U.S. slang," has the definition "To turn the head round in order to look at something."

: : : : : So the word originated as U.S. slang about 1900, inspired by the image of someone with a flexible neck.

: : : : When I hear this expression, I think of people driving past wrecks and turning their heads around so they can see the gruesome scene.

: : : : RUBBERNECK - "Who invented 'rubberneck' for a gawking tourist is unknown, but the Americanism dates back to the 1890s in New York City. In the words of H.L. Mencken ('The American Language' 1948) 'rubberneck' 'is almost a complete treatise on American psychology.but it is nevertheless superb, and whoever invented it, if he could be discovered, would be worthy of a Harvard L.L.D., but also the thanks of both Rotary and Congress, half a bushel of medals, and 30 days as the husband of Miss America." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997)

: : : : Like Europeans never "rubberneck."

: : : Europeans, in general, are surrounded by visible reminders of man's past presence in their environment - sometimes stretching back thousands of years. They are therefore less likely to treat an old building with the same interest as an American, who has probably not encounter any structure older than a couple of hundred years in their home country in their lifetime.

: : Hey, we all belong to NATO, don't we? I live near an area that draws tourists from Europe, Asia, South America, and everywhere else. I can assure you that European visitors do as much rubbernecking as the rest. What distinguishes European tourists from Asian tourists is that their cameras are older. Anyway, people who gawk at road accidents are probably thinking of their future more than of their past.

: I'm noted throughout the known world for my almost total lack of a 'rubbernecking' tendency. I completely ignore road accidents unless, of course, I'm personally involved or have been formally introduced to the participants.

I do hope you are not a police officer.