different between leatherneck vs rubberneck

English

Etymology

From leather +? neck.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l?ð?n?k/

Noun

leatherneck (plural leathernecks)

1. (slang) A soldier.
2. (US) Specifically, a marine.
   • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, p. 318:

     The Marine Corps has instituted a martial-arts program in which leathernecks are indoctrinated in a new code of honor, the Ethical Marine Warrior.

English

Etymology

Coined in the sense of "tourist" in the United States in the late 19th century. A favored Americanism of H.L. Mencken.

Noun

rubberneck (plural rubbernecks)

1. Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.

   Synonym: rubbernecker

   • 1951, J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 17:

     We must have looked gorgeous. And what made it worse, there was at least a hundred rubbernecks that didn't have anything better to do than stand around and watch everyone falling all over themselves.

2. (US, obsolete) A tourist.
3. Someone or something with a flexible neck.
   • 1912, Edward C. Wood, Electrically Operated Bell for Submarine Signaling [1], US Patent 1186961, line 57:

     "A suitable washer B1 and rubberneck B2, both of well known description, are provided to form with clapper arm B3 a watertight joint..."

   • 1972, Can Themba, The Will to Die [2],page 59:

     "'Hi, rubberneck!' -- he clutched at her pear-like breast jutting from her sweater — 'how long did you think you'll duck me?'"

Derived terms

• rubberneck bus

Translations

See also

• bystander
• leatherneck
• onlooker
• redneck
• roughneck

Verb

rubberneck (third-person singular simple present rubbernecks, present participle rubbernecking, simple past and past participle rubbernecked)

1. To watch by craning the neck (as though it were made of rubber), especially if the observer and observed are in motion relative to each other.

   The driver was so busy rubbernecking, trying to get a good view of the accident, that he was almost part of another accident.

Derived terms

• rubbernecker

Translations