rubbernecker

rubbernecker

Someone who gawks, gapes, or stares in a naïve, unsophisticated, or foolish manner; a person who rubbernecks. The famous cathedral was filled with rubberneckers, much to the chagrin of the regular churchgoers. A bunch of rubberneckers gathered around to watch the building burn.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • rubberneck
  • fall off the cabbage truck
  • fall off the turnip truck
  • just fell off the turnip truck
  • turnip
  • country cousin
  • cousin
  • pinhead
  • dumb bunny
  • sap
References in periodicals archive
While murder sets the wheels of Rubbernecker's plot in motion, Belinda says her time as a court reporter showed her that a murder case is not necessarily the most interesting.
In particular, four claims will be exposed to scrutiny: (i) rubberneckers - i.e., those who come to observe natural resource injury or clean-up operations - enjoy benefits that offset at least a part of the welfare losses from environmental disasters (Dunford et al., 1997); (ii) and losses should not count when claimed on behalf of those who were unaware of the particular natural resources and/or the injury that had befallen those resources (Dunford et al., 1997): (iii) households whose behavior, or survey responses, revealed motivations inconsistent with the standard economists' account of utility theory (Opaluch and Grigalunas, 1992); and (iv) altruists (Milgrom, 1993), or a particular class of altruists (McConnell, 1997).
If Victoria does her usual trick of mysteriously surfacing somewhere 10 minutes before the paparazzi, Necker Island will become Rubbernecker Island.
The castle show will see Ricky return to the city where he made his stand-up debut in 2001 in a show called Rubbernecker.
Yaya Toure was a PS250,000-perweek bystander here - a rubbernecker at a car crash site.
When it comes to garden retailing I am a real rubbernecker.
According to police, rubberneckers and crowds can also cause further injuries to victims by delaying rescue teams to arrive promptly at the accident site, such as ambulances and fire fighters.
Elderman noted that it becomes worse when rubberneckers take and post images from accident sites.
Around two hours later, the eastbound lane reopened and but soon after an officer tweeted from the scene that "rubberneckers" straining to see what was going on had caused another collision.
Half of them might be 'rubberneckers' or part-timers who fancy taking in a Premier League game but can't get in anywhere else but it would appear that the West Ham board are quite content to take their money.
The kids section is a massive treat for children and anyone who was once a child, the true crime section has rubberneckers covered, and the best-seller wall is always a fun glimpse into what the city's reading and thinking about.
He added he based this view on the comments of people and rubberneckers outside the mall.
At this time of the year with so much seasonal tat on display, the attraction is overwhelming, and so the shops are crammed with rubberneckers, gawping and manhandling the products, blocking the walkways, meeting old friends and generally being a pain in the neck to us people who just want to get the weekly shop done and escape back to the real world.
There is no gate but the narrow, twisting road is kept in such awful condition that it's not worth it for rubberneckers to make the trip just to see walls and a glimpse of something through the trees.
JURGEN KLOPP has likened the press reaction to Dejan Lovren's performance at Tottenham to rubberneckers at a car crash.