My understanding of the word trainspotter is that it started quite literally
with people (mostly men I think) who would watch trains and study them. Like
really REALLY study them. As to know what kind of trains they were, where
they went, when they went there, etc. It has come to mean someone a little
obsessive in their interest in something. A real stickler for details. A
super collector type. For example a trainspotter when it comes to jazz music
is the kind of person that knows not only the record a song is from when
they hear it, but what year it was recorded, who the session players were,
whether or not the record is still in print, what the cover looks like (when
it was re-released on this label out of Detroit, run by old man named
Feezle, who once played in a band with Dizzy Gillespie, in 1958, at a club
named Shazam, and there's this great live recording of it which is only
available on import from Spain, on 7", etc. etc.). It has a SLIGHT negative
connotation sometimes as in "super record geek".
Dirk van den Heuvel (dirkv@groovedis.com)
Groove Distribution
http://www.groovedis.com
Your Guide To The Underground
-----Original Message-----
From: BARONI@humnet.ucla.edu [mailto:BARONI@humnet.ucla.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 8:38 PM
To: acid-jazz@ucsd.edu
Subject: trainspotter
Recently, I keep finding this word everywhere: in magazines, postings to
this list, dustgroove.com reviews, and, I was wondering: what does it
mean? Where does it come from? (not from the movie, right?)
Thanks!
Best regards,
Marco
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