A mischievous species of 'little people' whose sole purpose in life is to spoil conversations. Everyone has experienced their tricks at some time.

Picture the scene: you are having a conversation with a large group of people, whom you desperately need to impress. A story occurs to you – it is pertinent to the discussion at hand, nobody has heard it before, and it will cause your listeners to laugh very loudly and/or rethink their entire worldview. This story now starts the long journey, via your mouth, through the air, to the ears of your listeners. But somewhere along the way, the anecdote goblins are lying in wait for it. They steal the story, and replace it with something like 'I went on a train once. It had blue seats.'

The result: job loss, social exclusion and in extreme cases, being shot through the lungs.

These unpleasant creatures have found their way into almost every sphere of human interaction. For example, see this forum posting.