rubberneck

"rubberneck"という表現をご存知でしょうか？

今年になって、生誕100周年を迎えたJ.D.サリンジャーの著作を読み返したいたのですが、代表作である"Catcher in the Rye"で以下のくだりに出くわしたのがきっかけです。


What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a buch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.
(J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye.)


"rubberneck"を辞書で引くと、


（首を伸ばして）物珍しげに見回す、（好奇の目で）じろじろ見る
（ランダムハウス英和辞書）


と載っています。

字義通りに解釈すると、ゴム（rubber）のような首（neck）ということなのだと思われますが、好奇心に駆られる人達の首はゴムのように柔らかいということでしょうか。

この表現はアメリカ英語の口語表現ということになっており、多少の蔑みが含意されているようです。

日本語で言うならば、野次馬、というのが適しているでしょう。


German politicians are considering raising fines to almost €2,000 (£1,777) for drivers who fail to give way for emergency vehicles after a study found four out of five ambulance deployments were held up by an average of five minutes when trying to get through traffic.

Drivers’ failure to move aside to form a “rettungsgasse” or rescue lane in the middle of the road – a key rule to German motorway driving which motorists are taught when learning to drive – has been blamed on drivers looking at the incidents and filming them on their mobile phones.

（中略）

The increase in rubbernecking is being blamed on social media and a growing obsession with stopping to film or photograph accident sites on mobile phones.
(Rubbernecking German drivers could be hit by bigger fines. The Guardian. October 21, 2018.)