[Ads-l] RES: Slang Sense of "Catfishing"

[David Daniel]

Here's what Bard said, no idea if it is accurate or not:

The earliest documented reference to "catfishing" specifically for online
deception interestingly doesn't come from online sources! It appears in the
2010 documentary film "Catfish," directed by Nev Schulman. The film
chronicles Schulman's own experience falling in love with someone online
whom he later discovered used a fake persona. This film is widely credited
with popularizing the term in its current context.

However, if we broaden the scope a bit, there are some earlier clues
pointing to similar concepts:

1996: The novel "A Complicated Kindness" by Miriam Toews explores themes of
deception and online relationships, featuring a character who fabricates an
online persona to connect with others.
2002: The MTV show "Room Raiders" aired an episode titled "Love Online,"
which explored the potential for deception and catfishing in online dating
environments.
2006: The book "Love in the Time of Spam" by Barbara Ehrenreich delves into
the world of online dating and mentions techniques used by some individuals
to misrepresent themselves online.
These examples suggest that the concept of online deception for romantic
purposes existed before the term "catfishing" became popularized. However,
the 2010 film "Catfish" played a pivotal role in bringing the term and its
associated concept into widespread public consciousness.

It's also worth noting that the metaphor of using catfish to attract other
fish has existed for centuries. Some sources trace the analogy back to
17th-century England, where catfish were used to stir ponds and make other
fish more active. In this sense, the application of the catfish metaphor to
online deception adds a layer of irony, implying that the deceptive online
persona aims to "stir up" interest and engagement from unsuspecting
individuals.

So, while "Catfish" the film may be the earliest definitive reference to the
term in its current meaning, the underlying concept has been explored and
alluded to in various forms for quite some time.

-----Mensagem original-----
De: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] Em nome de
Shapiro, Fred
Enviada em: domingo, 7 de janeiro de 2024 10:01
Para: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Assunto: Slang Sense of "Catfishing"

Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Slang Sense of "Catfishing"
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"Catfishing" is a slang term for "The practice of creating a fictional onli=
ne persona intending to lure a person into a false relationship."  I would =
welcome any information as to early print occurrences of this term, and als=
o early print occurrences of the related term "catfish," both as noun and v=
erb.

Fred Shapiro

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