rubberneck

Etymology

Coined in the sense of "tourist" in the United States in the late 19th century. A favored Americanism of H.L. Mencken.

noun

1. Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.
2. (US, obsolete) A tourist.
3. Someone or something with a flexible neck.
   A suitable washer B1 and rubberneck B2, both of well known description, are provided to form with clapper arm B3 a watertight joint... 1912, Edward C. Wood, Electrically Operated Bell for Submarine Signaling http://www.google.com/patents?id=p51jAAAAEBAJ, US Patent 1186961, line 57
   "Hi, rubberneck'!' -- he clutched at her pear-like breast jutting from her sweater — 'how long did you think you'll duck me?'" 1972, Can Themba, The Will to Die, page 59

verb

1. To watch by craning the neck (as though it were made of rubber), especially if the observer and observed are in motion relative to each other.
   The driver was so busy rubbernecking, trying to get a good view of the accident, that he was almost part of another accident.
2. To cause (someone) to watch in fascinated horror, as if rubbernecking to see a roadside accident.
   Hoover’s books go down like a T.M.I. Facebook confessional, rubbernecking you in from the first sentence. Certain patterns quickly emerge. 2023-07-06, Pamela Paul, “What’s the Story With Colleen Hoover?”, in The New York Times