- The number of incidents of curbstoning in the U.S. is on the rise.
Curbstoning
verb; blending
Curbstoning is a term describing the process of using a newspaper to sell a car, and during the process requesting more money for your car than it is worth. It is considered a felony. It is the combination of ‘curb’ and ‘stoning.’ There was no word to describe this new action; therefore, a new word had to be created to express what is going on. It is the process of selling a car off the curb which explains the first part of the word, the second part of the word is ‘stoning’ which the significance of is not quite as clear.
Etymology : [Comes from ‘curb’ (Middle French courbe curve, curved piece of wood or iron, from courbe curved, from Latin curvus) + ‘stone’ (Middle English, from Old English stAn; akin to Old High German stein stone, Old Church Slavonic stena wall, and perhaps to Sanskrit styAyate it hardens) + ‘ing’]
Source : Obtained from a Dateline story
Last modified: 10 June 2008