Kevin Courtney consider the the act of Kinnearing

Sounds kinky.

You may be queuing up at the supermarket checkout, or waiting to board an aircraft, or simply sitting in a coffee shop minding your own business. You may notice nothing suspicious but, unbenownst to you, some stranger has you in their sights, and is about to take a shot. Before you even realise it, you’ve been kinneared.

Is nowhere safe?

Kinnearing is the act of surrepetitiously taking a photo of someone in public, usually a celebrity. The kinnearer holds their mobile phone or camera discreetly by their hip, takes aim without the aid of a viewfinder, and snaps. If they’re lucky, they’ll get a nice paparazzi-style shot of the hapless star. If their aim is off, however, they’ll be lucky to get a shot of the star’s hand or trouser leg.

Hard to prove that gloved hand is really Michael Jackson’s.

Kinnearing is an inexact science, relying on luck and a little mental calibration. Like birdwatching, kinnearers have to avoid making sudden movements, or they’ll frighten their quarry away. They’ve got to get the photo without the subject realising. Speed is of the essence, because celebs never stay still for very long, so the margin for error is wide.

All right – the obvious question – why is it called kinnearing?

The term was coined by a blogger, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka Yarn Harlot, in 2007, after she spotted a famous person at Toronto Airport waiting to board an aircraft to Boston. That famous person was none other than Greg Kinnear. After confirming the film star’s identity by sneakily peeking at his boarding pass, Pearl-McPhee, who writes a blog about knitting, decided to take his picture to show her friends and family (or perhaps she wanted to knit a replica of his sweater). Worried that Kinnear might spook easily (well, he does often play nervous-type characters), and mindful that she was holding a sock she was knitting, which could be mistaken for a lethal weapon, she reckoned the best chance she had was to hold her camera casually by her hip, take aim, say a prayer and snap.

Don’t tell me – she got a great shot of his crotch.

The resulting picture, taken from the waist down, could have been of any nobody in the world. But though she was unsuccessful at snapping this star, Stephanie liked the whole idea of taking photos without looking, so she began kinnearing her friends and family. “I had begun to think that this kinnearing was rather an art form, and that I was getting quite good at taking pictures without looking,” she wrote. “It’s fun. But I’m stopping now. I wouldn’t want to take it too far.”

But it didn’t stop there, did it?

No indeed. Others liked the idea too, and started trying their hand at kinnearing. Pretty soon, the Flickr photo-sharing website was stacked with “hip-shots” of people taken at awkward angles, with just bits of their bodies showing, and a new verb was born.

‘Kin hell!

Our knitting lady was surprised that her new word had been snapped up by bloggers everywhere, and even more surprised when the New York Times listed it among their top buzzwords of 2007. In the past year, kinnearing has embedded itself into the lexicon, and some reckon it will outlive the star of Little Miss Sunshine.

Wow. What does Greg Kinnear think of all this?

Another intrepid knitter named Carol went one further – not only did she kinnear the star, but she also got him to hold her knitting and pose with her for a proper picture. So, it’s not just paparazzi you have to watch out for – pretty soon the celebrities will be stalked by wool-wielding kinnearers, and you never know when they’ll strike.

Try at home:He tried to kinnear me while I was in the shower, and now the camera's waterlogged.

Try at work:We've got Brad and Angelina on the cover – or maybe it's Jordan and Peter Andre – no one'll know.