The Hawera Star. WENESDAY, MARCH 31, 1926. ON “RUBBERING.”

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 March 1926, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

WENESDAY, MARCH 31, 1926. ON “RUBBERING.”

1)“1 iv,-r«1 every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera. ■vlariaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Kltham, Manga toki, Kaponga, .Alton, Hurleyville, Hatea, '.Vaverify, Mokoia, Whakainara, Ohangai, Meremere. Fraser Road arid Arnrata.

The Americans have a verb “to rubber,” from “rubbering,” which, in turn, is the act of a “rubber-neck.” It is all slang, of course, but particularly expressive when one investigates the origin of the term. 'When a lady faints in .the street, or when a grocer’s boy, his bicycle carrier full of eggs, gets tangled up with a stray dog, those on the outskirts of the immediate and curious crowd which collects must stretch their necks to see. Similarly, while a steeplejack works on a high chimney, the street below is white, with upturned faces. In both cases the “rubber-necks” are enjoying themselves. That form of idle or morbid curiosity which gives rise to the expression is not, however, confined to America. To-day’s cables report a first-class exhibition of “rubbering” from Germany, where one Herr Jolly, in sotting up a new world’s record for continuous fasting, was gazed upon by three hundred thousand people, who paid five thousand pounds for the doubtful privilege. Three hundred thousand “rubber-necks”—and one fool, who is not such a fool after all whore money is concerned. The craze for establishing and breaking records takes some queer turns. Endurance dub swinging or piano playing, “Marathon” Bible reading, and fasting to make a German holiday are all of them about on a par for senselessness. One thing only can be said for the emaciated Jolly: Most Germans eat too much at ordinary times, and many of them might be the better for following his lead one day a week. But most of us eat too often and too heartily; yet the chief of the faddists has never suggested that any useful purpose might be served by locking oneself in 1

'a glass cage and eating nothing for six weeks. It is merely a bid for notoriety, which, thanks to the operations of the “rubbering” fraternity, may nowadays be turned to highly profitable account. Next month, no doubt, we shall have a little variety by an attempt on the world’s gluttony record. Thursday would be an appropriate date on which to begin.