Grab some popcorn, slip into a folding seat, and you’re ready to watch the coming attractions. But if they’re shown before the main feature, why in the world are movie previews called trailers? Enjoy these old movie trailers at Turner Classic Movies. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Origin of Movie Trailers”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Keld in Austin, Texas.
Hiya, Keld. How are you doing?
I’m doing very well. How are you?
All right. What can we do for you?
Well, I was getting ready to rent a movie online, and I wanted to make sure I got the right thing, so I checked out the trailer first. And then I started to wonder why we call it a trailer when we view it before we view the actual movie.
So it’s the few minutes that they show us, like all the highlights, the things that are supposed to compel us to pay the full price, right?
Well, in my case, rent it online.
Right.
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s this linguistic relic.
You’re right. It doesn’t make sense if the trailer’s first, right?
Right. And in some languages, it isn’t called a trailer. It’s called something that indicates that it’s viewed before the movie.
And I guess we sometimes call it a preview.
Right.
Okay. Yes, what is your first language?
My first language is Danish.
I see. And so what do they call it?
We call it a forfilm.
A forfilm.
Yeah, so the film before the film.
Right. Okay, so the answer is you guys are just more logical than us.
Well, I don’t know about that, but that’s certainly one possibility. Well, there is an explanation for this, and it’s pretty simple. This goes back to the old days of movies when there were double features.
Right. And you would do the B movie, which was sort of the opening act, the warm-up act for the real attraction. And they would stick the preview of the coming attraction on the end of that first movie, that opening act.
So it was the trailer there. And it just became this sort of fossil that stuck. So it was trailing the movie. It was following behind.
Yeah, it was trailing that first little movie in advance of the real feature.
Gotcha. Well, that explanation makes perfect sense. And I guess you’d have to have lived through the 1920s to know that.
Well, I didn’t, if that’s what you’re asking.
No, no, no, I wouldn’t. Well, I really appreciate your help on that little puzzle. Thank you so much.
It’s a great question. A lot of people wonder that. You know, they start looking at that word and just thinking, it’s like going into an antique store and seeing something that you’re sure had a function, but you just don’t know what it was.
Yeah, I guess you’re right. And it is what happens when you wait for that thing to load on the computer for sure. You sit and think about things.
Yeah, that’s a dangerous time, isn’t it?
Yeah, it is. Hey, thanks a lot for calling.
Thank you, Kel. Thank you for helping.
All right. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye. In French, they call that the bande-annonce, B-A-N-D-A-N-N-O-N-C-E, two words, and it just means film announcement.
Well, I kind of like trailer. It’s abbreviated as BA.
Yeah, it works. I like the fact that the jargon has become so entrenched that it’s lost its original meaning.
Yeah, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Plus, it’s just this kind of clunky word, trailer.
Trailer. Don’t you think?
Yeah, the film boys will never let it go.
No, and I like that. Well, if you’ve got a question about something that’s bugged you, something that makes no sense about English, wait, that’s all of English.
Well, give us a call, 1-877. It’s not a logical language, right?
No, are you kidding? No, there’s plenty to be explained here.
1-877-929-9673. Or send an email to words@waywordradio.org. Or hammer it out on your keyboard in our discussion forums at waywordradio.org/discussion.
