Digging up old stories

Back in grade school, I used to wonder why some people online would write something like "Jimmy is nothing but a ignorant troll^H^H^H^H^Hguy" (can't think of a decent example right now =P). It was obvious enough what the intended effect was, but I never actually understood why that notation was used (i.e. "Is that supposed to be incoherent laugh-noise-making, like in that *coughcoughoops* kinda way?"). I bring this up now because I've just come across someone using this same notation, after having not seen it since grade school.

Having been further exposed to, well, computers (and recent dealings with eceunix, specifically), I now find much amusement in its usage ;)