Trying to remember quote about giants and trolls. Help?

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Where did the term "troll" come from?

I thought I read somewhere that Cory Hamasaki had a quote about that.

Maybe from the Hobbit?

I thought it also dealt with giants?

Can someone explain, or offer a link?

-- trying (really@hardto.remember), July 19, 1999

Answers

Maybe it's just that I'm of the Scandanavian persuasion, but I have the feeling that troll lore comes from old Scandanavia. You know, folklore & children's tales, like the Irish and their little people.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), July 19, 1999.

You're right, Peter. The part of England where I grew up (and where my paternal ancestors originated) was under the Danelaw when the Vikings ruled part of Great Britain. We still relate Mother Grimm type fairy stories about trolls and bridges dating from that era. However, I think the term as used on the Net relates more to "trolling" as in fishing usage, that is, baiting for a catch.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 19, 1999.

Orcs, from Tolkien, are actually more descriptive of TimeBomb2000 trolls.

Long live Middle Earth ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), July 19, 1999.


No guys.

I appreciate the literary responses, but I know it had something to do with giants frequenting the forum and possibly trolls as in the conventional sense.

This is a semi-famous quote. Surely someone must remember? It had depth.

Paging Cory?

-- trying (really@hardto.remember), July 19, 1999.


I seem to recall from somewhere that all present day trolls are descendants of the original mother troll "Pollyophanes" who lived under the Tacoma Narrows bridge in Bremerton, Washington until that fateful day in November 1940, when the bridge it called home was taken out by a US cruise missile launched from a B-zero stealth fighter. Of course the doomers all tried to blame it on bad engineering but it is a well known fact that the US Govt was actually attempting to neutralize the mother of all trolls. Unfortunately, a minor glitch in the missle's GPS guidance system caused the missile to go slightly astray and the troll survived the attack.

er, uh, I'm sorry...it's been a long day.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), July 19, 1999.



But just the wind of that missile passing near it took that bridge out. That was quite a show! The troll, of course, has been edited out of all the movie clips of the event.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), July 20, 1999.

OK Arnie, which bridge was it that the Military unit did NOT break step for one time and brought it down? I remember the story (ref sympathetic vibration freq's) but don't remember the bridge. I THOUGHT it was Tacomah Narrows. I HAVE been wrong, even today......

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), July 20, 1999.


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