Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Do people trawl for clues or troll for clues? I always thought the former, and assumed troll was an eggcorn.
TROLL
Just two days before the revolt began on February 22, when it was unclear what might happen and reporters were trolling for clues and conspiracies, the regime’s disarray was captured in one indelible moment for me.
The Weekend Standard, Saturday February 18 2006
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/weekend_n … r=20060218
TRAWL
We are penned up in claustrophobic apartments, taken trawling for clues in the dank shallows of San Francisco Bay
Sydney Morning Herald, May 20, 2004
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/ … m=storyrhs
However, Wikipedia, contrasts the two:
Trolling for fish is a form of angling where lines with hook-rigged lures are dragged behind a boat in attempts entice fish to bite. Compare the term Trawling for fish which involves dragging a net behind a boat to catch large numbers of fish.
If Wikipedia is right, “trawl” would’ve been better than “troll” in the first example, while “troll” would’ve been better than “trawl” in the second. So is this a pair of eggcorns, or has one lexically evolved from the other? I leave it to the experts.
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How does this fit with the use of ‘troll’ to mean aimlessly wandering about? I used to work at a school and I remember hearing a girl tell her friends, who were all going to class, saying ‘I’m going for a troll first’. I assumed she meant ‘trawl’ but since then I’ve seen it in print and online with the same usage.
I also get the impression it can mean looking for cheap and easy sex, perhaps derived from ‘trollop’!
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