"Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I'm not sure I agree with his premise.  "Trolling" is a legit fishing
term.  You use a trolling motor on a bass boat to slowly explore
specific areas of a lake looking for productive areas.  Likewise,
trolling for votes, dollars, etc. seems an attributive sense of the same
word.

(Maybe the fishing usage of "trolling" came from "trawling".)

I first heard trolling in an attributive sense by someone who was going
to the mall to troll for women.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Fred Shapiro
> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 6:44 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> A friend of mine who is an English professor at the
> University of Pennsylvania posed this question:
>
> "Since when did the verb 'trawling,' borrowed from (or having
> the same root as) ships and fishing, become 'trolling,' as in
> trolling for votes, or for campaign dollars, or for
> justifications for going to war, etc.?
> What does a hairy monster living under a bridge have to do
> with in-gathering?"
>
> Any comments?  Is this an eggcorn?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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