Why Is the Film “Trainspotting” Called Trainspotting?
Question by viggo.blixen: Why is the film “Trainspotting” called Trainspotting?
I’m on the way to buy the book, having seen and memorized the film years ago. Having just ridden the AmTrak (American passenger rail) for 16 hours thru the midwest and grown up around freight rail, I am curious.
Internet research reveals that the book (& film) is named for a scene that didn’t make it into the film. Can anybody summarize this scene? Why on Earth is a film about heroin addiction named Trainspotting without the pivotal scene depicting the obsessive hobby? How do my Junk-riddled buddies relate to trains, other than taking a train to Tommy’s idealistic Scotland before he tries the junk?
Perhaps I should just read the book, no?
P.S. I am an Anglophile in Midwestern America. The inter-web tells me to be concerned about the dialect the book is written in. I remember hearing the same concerns about Elizabethan English when I started reading Shakespeare, and found the words to be no problem. Is the dialect “Trainspotting” is written in more dissimilar to American English than Elizabethan? Random last minute question, do your best. 🙂
@ Traffic Planner: “Tracks” is the American (and perhaps elsewhere) word used for the marks that I.V. Drug users develop on their arms due to repeated needle-sticks. I’ve never connected the “Train” in Trainspotting with the “Tracks” I see in my day to day life as a petrol station attendant. Thanks much. This shows a connection with IV drug use and trains, can anyone else elaborate?
Best answer:
Answer by Traffic Planner
I believe trainspotting is a term used for the marked the needles leave on ones arm. I could be wrong though, sorry, not much help.
Answer by PennyLeeD2
Trainspotters are obsessive about their hobby, as are heroin users. Outsiders can’t understand the behavior of either one. Mainline and tracks are terms in both. Brits seem to understand the term Trainspotting better than do Americans.
See for yourself if the language is easy. It’s awkward for me, I wouldn’t read it. http://books.google.com/books?id=iSGR2pjiNNMC&dq=trainspotting+text&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=Ut8FSPJqJW&sig=SUzv3q_YFYHruPQ7LHhFNrUfK7A&hl=en&ei=GpAVSuDHHaCc8QSu9PzGAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA3,M1
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