Rubberneck

[Mike Salovesh]

The list has already seen three references to the occurence of
"rubberneck" or related words in Illinois. Rather than add another
attestation, I've been letting my memory run back to my earliest
memories of noticing the term in Chicago English.

If memory serves, the most common occurence in Chicago back in the late
1940s was as part of the phrase "rubberneck[er] bus", most commonly
applied to vehicles operated by the Grey Line Sightseeing Tours people.
I think the verb, as in "We went out rubbernecking", also was more
common than "rubberneck" or "rubbernecker" used as a noun -- e.g., "here
comes a rubbernecker".

-- mike salovesh                    <salovesh at niu.edu>
PEACE !!!

P.S.:  "Rubbernecker bus" also was a common term for the kind of
double-decker bus operated by the old Chicago Motor Coach Company --
particularly the model that had no roof on the upper level.  (I think
the topless ones were most often used downtown, along Michigan Avenue.
I recall them passing the Art Institute, the old Chicago Public Library
between Randolph and Washington, and crossing the river near Tribune
Tower.  Anybody know where else they went?)