more gapers

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:38 PM -0400 9/11/00, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>At 04:51 PM 9/11/00 -0400, you wrote:
>><<The earliest citation I can find in a few seconds of research is the
>>following:
>>
>>1982 William Safire in _N.Y. Times_ 28 Feb. (Nexis)  A person whose
>>curiosity causes him to slow traffic is called a rubber-necker in Texas, a
>>gonker in Detroit and a lookie-lou in L.A.  Such obstructive gaping is
>>called gaper's block in Denver.
>>
>>Fred Shapiro>>
>>
>>
>>No one has mentioned "gawking" and "gawkers" in this discussion. That's how
>>I've always referred to it. Am I alone in this?
>
>No.
>
>In fact, I think Mr. Safire has erroneously transcribed 'gawker' as
>'gonker' in the above quotation. Perhaps his source used an unusual
>pronunciation.
>
Possibly so, but thanks for the nostalgic reminder on "lookie-lou",
which I fondly recall from L.A. traffic alerts on the radio, along
with the earlier L.A.-specific "sig-alert", of which I believe we've
spoken in this forum.

L