to feed the troll
1
8.3
- idiom
- Slang
:
alimentar al troll
- DPK—don't feed the troll.
Examples
-
So, can we stop feeding the troll now?
Blog text (13) -
By replying to his inflammatory remarks, she realized she was only feeding the troll.
-
Do you really need to feed the trolls?
Blog text (31) -
Do not feed the troll.
Blog text (15) -
Do not feed the trolls!
Blog text (13) -
And I try my hardest not to feed the trolls.
Academic text (2016) -
We need to stop feeding the troll.
Blog text (5) -
Don't feed the trolls, and they will go away.
Blog text (30) -
Which means I made a huge mistake by replying and feeding the troll.
Blog text (18) -
Somebody told me nicely: don't feed the troll!
Blog text (8)
How Engaged
- Slang
1
8.3
676
3.4
453
1.0
72
3.5
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense is built from the literal meanings ('feed' = give support/attention; 'troll' = provocateur), but the MWE relies on a metaphorical extension (attention as "food") and pragmatic inference that engaging encourages more provocation. This mapping is understandable if learners know both constituents, yet it is not a fully literal, compositionally predictable meaning, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Feed the troll may come from the image of a troll under a bridge: if people give it food, the troll will come back and cause more trouble, so to feed a troll is to give it what it wants. So online, replying to someone who tries to annoy people is 'to engage with someone who posts to annoy others', because your reply encourages more bad posts.