Rubbernecking

"Rubberneck" redirects here. For the Toadies album of that name, see Rubberneck (album).
During fire fighting, onlookers must be kept at a safe distance for health reasons, especially to avoid poisonous gases.
Čumil, the rubbernecker of Bratislava

Rubbernecking is a derogatory term primarily used to refer to bystanders staring at accidents. More generally, it can refer to anyone staring at something of everyday interest compulsively (especially tourists). The term rubbernecking derives from the neck's appearance while trying to get a better view, that is, craning one's neck.[1]

Rubberneck is associated with morbid curiosity.[2] It is often the cause of traffic jams, sometimes referred to as "gapers' block" or "gapers' delay", as drivers slow down to see what happened in a crash. Rubberneck is considered as of 2007 unconventional English or slang.[3]

  1. ^ Partridge, Eric; Beale, Paul (1994). Fergusson, Rosalind (ed.). Shorter Slang Dictionary. London: Routledge. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-415-08866-4.
  2. ^ Franklin, Daniel P. (2006). Politics and Film: The Political Culture of Film in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7425-3808-5.
  3. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2007). The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Routledge. p. 550. ISBN 978-0415212595.