Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 09:06:09 -0400

From: Jesse T Sheidlower jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PANIX.COM

Subject: Re: TRAINSPOTTING movie slang



The movie TRAINSPOTTING was a big hit in Britain and opens on these

shores today. It's set in the working-class Edinburgh suburb of Leith and is

based on a book by Irvine Welsh. The title comes from the British hobby of

keeping obsessive notes about trains.



American readers should be aware that the American release of the movie

has several sections of dialogue re-recorded so that it would be

easier to understand. Even the British release irons out a lot of

the Scots that appears in the book. The book is fascinating from a

language POV; any effort to read it would be well repaid. There are

also a few sections in the book where characters make comments about

their own language, and where speakers of standard Scots are unable

to understand the basilectal speech of the main characters.



Jesse Sheidlower

jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com