Re: (OT) Translation: Trolls and their Management

On Sunday 18 Jan 2004 10:38 pm, you wrote:
> Rik Roots wrote:
> (re troll in the fishing sense)
>
> > Indeed - this is where (I think) the gay slang term "trolling" comes
>
> from - a
>
> > man on the hunt for sex will troll the bars for some action.
>
> Haven't heard that usage in my vast (though out of date) wanderings...maybe
> it's UK? However, some 20 years ago a friend in Indiana sent me a clipping
> from his local paper, in which a judge referred to prostitutes "trolling
> for trade" (or tricks, I disremember). He thought it quite unique at the
> time.
>
Just checked the entry in my Polari Dictionary (Fantabulosa: a dictionary of
Polari and gay slang, by Paul Baker, ISBN 0-8264-5961-7 - just in case anyone
is interested), which gives the following for "Troll":

Verb: troll, which has several meanings, is probably derived from an earlier
definition which is to do with 'to move, walk about to and fro, ramble,
saunter, stroll or roll', which dates back at least to the 14th century.
Other definitions of troll are also to do with movement: it can be a bowling
term, or mean 'to spin', 'to wag the tongue', 'to turn over in one's mind',
'to sing something in a round', or 'to draw on a moving bait'. Another
meaning of troll is concerned with witchcraft; trolls were mythical
creatures, formerly in Scandinavian mythology they were conceived as giants,
and more recently as dwarfs or imps. The word trolla in Sweden means 'to
charm or bewitch'. It is possible that the Polari use of troll has taken
aspects of both of these other sets of meaning into consideration: to walk
around, seeking to charm a man into the act of copulation.

Noun: an unattractive, old man, particularly one who won't take no for an
answer.

I don't know how accurate Baker's etymology is, but the word is certainly used
as he sets out (both as a verb and a noun) among the older generations of UK
gay men.

Rik, knee deep.

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