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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 15 May 2010, 16:46:31

Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 15 May 2010, 16:46:31

http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/net1540.html (http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/net1540.html)
I found that absolutely hysterical. Well, apparently people in the 16th century made use of the term "trolling"

Quote

  Thou makest a trolling hither and thither
   Sometime thou trollest thou canst not tell whither.

Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: wellington1869 on Mon, 17 May 2010, 00:53:02

did the word mean the same thing tho? I read the first couple of messages there and seemed to me 'strolling' would have worked as well as far as the meaning went.

Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: Nonmouse on Mon, 17 May 2010, 12:23:14

Quote from: wellington1869;183036

did the word mean the same thing tho? I read the first couple of messages there and seemed to me 'strolling' would have worked as well as far as the meaning went.

Well, considering the first definition in the OED:

Quote

troll, v.
I. 1. intr. To move or walk about or to and fro; to ramble, saunter, stroll, ‘roll’; spec. (slang) of a homosexual: to walk the streets, or ‘cruise’, in search of a sexual encounter; cf. sense 13.

that certainly makes sense...
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Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: EverythingIBM on Mon, 17 May 2010, 17:31:28

Quote from: wellington1869;183036

did the word mean the same thing tho? I read the first couple of messages there and seemed to me 'strolling' would have worked as well as far as the meaning went.

I'll check that out later, I have a lot of old english literature that may have references to words like "trolling", I'm sure it was used a fair bit.

Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: wellington1869 on Mon, 17 May 2010, 19:20:18

i'd be curious to know, in terms of the etymology, how this came out of "stroll":

(http://hippiekiller.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/troll.jpg)

were trolls considered wanderers? I thought they lived under bridges.

Title: Trolling in 1540
Post by: Infinite north on Mon, 17 May 2010, 20:32:33

(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=10067&stc=1&d=1274146283)

If you wanna get the boysoul you gotta pay the troll toll.