[生活美語] 同學有在網路上被「 catfish」過嗎?
catfish 作為名詞被定義為
1. 鯰魚
a type of fish that has whiskers around its mouth and lives in rivers or lakes
嘴上有鬍鬚，生活在河流或湖泊中的魚
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2. 網路鯰魚，在社群媒體上用虛假身份欺詐別人的人
someone who lies about themselves on the Internet in order to impress people, especially so that someone will start a relationship with them
為了給人留下深刻印象而在網路世界撒謊的人，尤其是使某人與他們建立關係的人
e.g.
Turns out the girl I thought I met online was just a catfish of an old man.
原來我以為我在網上認識的那個女孩只是一隻老人扮演的「網路鯰魚」。
—Urban Dictionary
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catfish 作動詞時意為「用虛假身份在網上欺騙他人」
to deceive (someone) by creating a false personal profile online
e.g.
They never actually met. He was an online thing. They'd been talking for over a year. We were all pretty sure he was catfishing her, but she was convinced he was legit and that they were in love.
他們從未真正見過面。他是網路情人。他們已經聊了一年多了。我們都很確定他在網路上「扮演鯰魚」欺騙她，但她覺得他很真實也愛上他了。
—M-W Dictionary
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那麽我們為什麼如此使用catfish這個字呢？
根據紐約時報，catfish這個字的用法源自於2010 Ariel Schulman的紀錄片《鯰魚》(Catfish)中的用語。片中年輕的攝影師Nev與密西根州的一個妙齡女子Megan在網上墜入愛河，但當他祕密前往密西根州想與Megan相見時才發現，對方的真實名字是Angela，是一個中年家庭婦女，而她在網路上呈現的生活樣貌都只是她在虛擬世界中構建出的夢想生活狀態。
影片「鯰魚」得名於Angela丈夫講的一個故事：為了保持鱈魚的活躍與新鮮，一些漁民會將鯰魚放進捕到的鱈魚中一起長途運輸。這是因為作為鱈魚的天敵，鯰魚能使鱈魚一直保持警惕狀態，不至於在蓄水池中靜止不動而死去。他用「鯰魚」來比喻自己的妻子----一個偽裝成令人著迷的身份、不斷攪動他人生活漣漪的人。自此以後，人們就用catfish來形容用假身份在網上欺騙他人的人。
—NY Times
When Nev was visiting with Angela and her husband Vince, Vince tells them a story about a problem when live cod were shipped to Asia from North America, and the flesh ended up gross and mushy from inactivity. In order to keep the cod active, according to Vince’s story, the fisherman started putting catfish in with the cod to nip at their tails and keep them active. Vince implies that Angela is like those catfish because life would be “dull and boring if we didn’t have someone nipping at our fins.”
—Starcasm.net
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So, beware of catfishing.
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfishing
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/catfish
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catfish
https://cn.nytimes.com/culture/20190730/wod-catfish/
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=catfish
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156310644872807
