Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Back in the '80s and early '90s I worked at Volvo Truck NA, and had occasion to travel to our various manufacturing plants to teach classes. I usually managed to set aside an afternoon after the class to wander around the plant floor and watch them assemble trucks, which I found endlessly fascinating. I always got the permission of the shift supervisor first, and carried around a clipboard so I didn't attract too much attention, but if any one of the workers asked me what I was about I always said I was "just rubbernecking".

Another term doesn't mean exactly the same thing but it's also useful for this activity: "prairie-dogging". That's when some unfamiliar noise occurs in an office environment and cubicle workers all stand up and look around ("crane their necks") to see what happened.

telemath said:

BTW, I always heard that behavior referred to as "rubbernecking." That's when you stretch your neck so far to see something, it appears to be made of rubber. Typical use: "The accident was on the other side of the freeway, but our side slowed down because of all the rubberneckers."

Here we call that a gawker blocker.