Learn English – What does ‘Train-wreck style’ mean

phrases

I came across the word, ‘train-wreck’ and ‘train-wreck style,’ both associated with singers behaviors these couple of days in newspaper articles and clips on internet sites after the sudden death of Amy Winehouse; for examples;

  • Dark star: Why Amy Winehouse is not just a celebrity train-wreck? – www. slate com.
  • Public Speaking, Train-Wreck Style: When her turn comes to speak at the dinner, she (Anne Hathaway) awkwardly seizes the microphone being passed around the table and adopts the tone of a stand-up comic telling sick jokes – NYT Jan 9, 2009.

The first example can be referred to an ‘accident’ likened to train-wreck’ of the celebrity. But second example apparently does not seem to be referring to any train accident. I checked both Oxford Dictionary and Merriam Webster Dictionary, but there’s no entry of ‘train-wreck style, nor character.’ Does it mean a bankrupt character or behavior style of a person? What does ‘Train-wreck style’ exactly mean?

Best Answer

The idea of using train-wreck to describe a person comes from not only the awful calamity of a literal train wreck, but also the macabre pleasure that the general public seems to derive from viewing such a spectacle. It is the morbid interest that we have in watching other people destroy their own lives that really gives "train-wreck" its meaning.

"Train-wreck style" is an extension of this idea. In your example, Anne Hathaway's character "offers an indelible, if sometimes repellent portrait of a recovering addict who makes people squirm." Her character is the train-wreck; the speech she gives at her sister's wedding is delivered in a "train-wreck style" because we can all see the awkward and embarrassing end of her disastrous attempts to heal from her addiction, but we can't help but watch her anyway.

EDIT:

You asked whether "self-destructive style" could be substituted for "train-wreck style" and it is similar, except that "train-wreck style" is publicly self-destructive. You cannot be a train-wreck in private, although you might be very self-destructive in private.

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