On: Differences Between Perl 5 and Perl 6

[gknoy]

I expect it's based on the /slap emote in IRC.

Wikipedia [0] has a page on it, from which I swipe the follwing:

`When someone does something inadvisable that they had the experience and intelligence to avoid, you may likely see the suggestion that they be "trouted"`

Trout slapping originated in 1995 with internet relay chat (IRC). While in an IRC chat room, the IRC client mIRC would allow users to enter the command:

  /slap Sam
  - Steve slaps Sam around a bit with a large trout

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Whacking_with_a_wet_...

[dasil003 → gknoy]

Wow, that's a blast from the past. Did it really originate in mIRC? Somehow I feel like it predated that, but maybe just because I didn't run Windows.

[kbenson → dasil003]

It sounded Monty Python-ish to me, and it looks plausible[1].

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsfiD78Cy0s

[amyjess → dasil003]

I first encountered it in the mid-to-late '90s, and it was definitely considered an IRCism back then (in that IRC was the only place you saw trouting), but I had no idea it originated as an mIRC builtin.