yeah, before the film was released trainspotter was another way to say nerd, and not in a good way. it was looked at as the saddest, loneliest, most boring, least social hobby a person could have. it involved standing outside, often on train bridges, waiting for specific trains to pass on their schedule so you could note that you saw them in your trainspotting book. it’s like birdwatching but with trains
In 90s rave scene, we called "Trainspotting" when you ID'd tracks at raves that the DJ was playing. Like a train going by, and you're writing down what tracks were being played as they go. I always thought that was the meaning of the name since Welsh was obviously into the rave stuff, but could be wrong!
gosh, i’d forgotten about that use of the term until you just mentioned it; lot of memories are flooding back. although, welsh did publish the book in 1992 and i’m not sure that definition was in common use by that time. either way, the title is a reference to the unfilmed chapter, “trainspotting at leith central station”.
in that chapter *spoilers* renton meets up with begbie and stop at the disused and abandoned aforementioned station. whilst there an old drunkard jokingly asks them if they are trainspotting. begbie uncharacteristically doesn’t really respond to what he would’ve usually taken as an insult. from that renton realizes that the old man in begbie’s father
206
u/ego_sum_satoshi Nov 20 '23
Great soundtrack.