Summary

• The term "catfish" originated from a 2010 documentary that inspired the hit MTV reality series, shedding light on online deception.
• Catfish: The TV Show, now in its 9th season, continues to capture the emotional impact of being misled in online relationships.
• Manti Te'o's public scandal in 2013 further popularized the term "catfish," leading to its inclusion in the Miriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

While many associate the term "catfish" with the 2012 MTV reality show, Catfish: The TV Show, its origins trace back to a 2010 documentary that inspired the series. The term has become ingrained in common language, often used to describe a person who creates a fake online persona with the purpose of deceiving others, particularly in romantic contexts. The documentary not only highlighted the emotional impact of online deception, but also introduced a word to describe it. The problem with catfishing hasn't subsided; people are still being catfished today, and the MTV reality series, now airing season 9, is there to catch them.

The term "catfish" comes from the documentary Catfish, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The film follows Ariel's brother, Nev, who has been engaged in a relationship with a woman online, but whom he suspects is not who she claims to be. The low-budget documentary struck a chord with audiences, becoming a big success, and ultimately coining the term "catfish" and bringing it into modern usage.

The Term "Catfish" Comes From The Movie That Inspired The TV Show

The TV Show Helped Spread The Word

The 2010 documentary, Catfish, tells a compelling narrative that uncovers layers of deception involved in online relationships. As Nev digs deeper into finding out more about the woman he's been dating online, but not ever met in person, he discovers that he hasn't been in a relationship with who he thought. Rather, the person behind the profile is Angela, a married woman in her 40s who had been fabricating her entire online persona. The raw and emotional revelation in the documentary resonated with audiences, and made the term "catfish" synonymous with people who deceive others online.

When MTV launched Catfish: The TV Show in 2012, the term gained wider popularity. The show, which was initially hosted by Nev, investigates cases of potential online impersonation. Participants of the show will generally meet in person to discover if the romantic partner was legitimate or a catfish. The best Catfish episodes showcase dramatic confrontations and emotional reveals, captivating viewers and further embedding the term into everyday conversation.

How "Catfish" Entered The English Language

A College Football Star's Public Scandal Gave The Term More Attention

In the Catfish documentary, Vince, the husband of Nev's "catfish," Angela, retells an urban legend that originated in 1913. He uses the analogy of placing a few catfish into shipments of cod to prevent the fish from becoming pale and lethargic to describe his perspective of what "catfish" are doing in an online world. Vince explains:

"They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They'd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank God for the catfish because we would be ... boring and dull if we didn't have somebody nipping at our fin."

The term gained further attention three years later when, in 2013, a promising college football star, Manti Te'o was embroiled in a public scandal where he was catfished. In 2014, just a year after Te'o's scandal and subsequent court case, "catfish" officially entered the Miriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, noting its popularity drawn from both the documentary and the football star's highly publicized ordeal. Manti Te'o's own story of being catfished was later featured in an episode of the nine-part Netflix Untold documentary film series, The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist.

The term's journey from an independent documentary to mainstream vernacular underscores the impact of media in defining and disseminating new words.

The adoption of the term "catfish" into everyday language illustrates how powerful stories and media can shape our vocabulary. The term's journey from an independent documentary to mainstream vernacular underscores the impact of media in defining and disseminating new words. Other films have also been the source of introducing new words into common parlance, including "bombshell," "gaslight," and "bucket list." But the Catfish documentary – not Catfish: The TV Show – was the true source of the now-common term.