The Troll

I always thought a troll was something like the above. After all, wasn't it a trolll that kept popping out from under the bridge in the Three Billy Goats Gruff and threatening to gobble them up? Then, as I recall, the goat would make some excuse and carry on going Trip-Trap, Trip-trap over the rickety bridge...


This seemed to be confirmed by a piece of street art in Seattle which shows an 18 foot high troll under a bridge , clutching an original Volkswagen Beetle, as if he had just snatched it from the roadway.


But apparently, I'm out of date. Reading Mark's blog I discovered that a troll is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion. So now I know!