Troll Attempting To Impress LadyA "troll" is a mythical anthropomorphic creature of Nordic origins, closely related to Ogres and i would assume Giants as well. As you would imagine, Wikipedia covers the topic like ugly on an ape. (Sorry, apes.)
I assume that it is because of the Troll's tendency to engage in games of extortion (followed by games of crunching up your bones) that individuals engaged in obnoxious commenting behavior in The Internet have bee labeled with the same term. (Sorry trolls.)
This video, with the world's worst professional narration in English that I know of, and some inaccuracies (Trolls don't "blog" ... they "comment.") is worth a look because it shows an actual Troll. So this is like a Bigfoot video, but with a Troll instead of Bigfoot. (Sorry Bigfoot.)
I cribbed this video from a little site called The Wall Street Journal, where you will find that the narrator, T.W. Farnam, is a good writer. Stick to writing, T.W.
Politics
Comments
Giants were actually more closely related to gods than trolls and ogres in Norse mythology.
Posted by: Jeff | December 27, 2007 12:21 PM
I always thought that "troll" on the web came from the verb, which is a fishing term. It refers to hanging a baited line behind a slow-moving boat, hoping to catch any poor fish that happened to bite on the tempting morsel.
(And the two "trolls" are etymologically distinct.)
Posted by: Ahcuah | December 27, 2007 12:55 PM
I often think of troll in this way as well, thus my use of the term "troll bait" when I say things like "Linux is an operating system" ... then all the trolls come out and explain how Linux is fifteen distinct operating system, or whatever.
On the giants and trolls: I was thinking of Harry Potter when I said that, but note that I was equivocating. Thanks for the clarification.
Posted by: Greg Laden | December 27, 2007 1:49 PM
It's a little before my Usenet era, but I thought "troll" came from alt.folklore.urban, where the expression was "trolling for newbies", ie. deliberately posting outrageous nonsense to sucker naive posters into getting upset and making fools of themselves. Of course, it didn't take long to associate the subpontian definition with the practice as well.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | December 27, 2007 7:08 PM
Eamon ... I like that one. It's obscure, subtle, slightly complex. I hope that one is true!
Posted by: Greg Laden | December 27, 2007 7:37 PM
Eamon's got it right.
Look up: +usenet +faq +troll
Good reading.
Posted by: Hank Roberts | December 27, 2007 8:59 PM
Coincidentally, I posted this at Deltoid earlier today, it goes with the picture and newer usage:
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Cartoon I wish someone would draw:
Two of the troll dolls, standing in front of a keyboard/screen; one says to the other:
"They say 'On the Internet nobody can tell you're a dog.' How do they recognize us so easily?"
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Posted by: Hank Roberts | December 27, 2007 9:06 PM
great another dumbass post from the king of dumbasses
at least this time you actually said something before the video instead of just posting some lame-ass video with no commentary (like a jackass)
Posted by: user | December 27, 2007 9:25 PM