Awkward Reunion With A Real-Life Catfish Soulmate

What does “catfishing” mean in American English?

Catfishing is American English internet slang for tricking someone online by pretending to be a fake romantic partner. The verb comes from Nev Schulman’s 2010 documentary Catfish, which followed a New York man falling for a woman who turned out to be someone else entirely. The MTV reality show Catfish: The TV Show started in 2012 and made the verb mainstream. The 2013 Manti Te’o scandal, where a famous American football player was tricked by an online “girlfriend” who didn’t exist, cemented catfishing in American slang. The verb is now in Merriam-Webster.

In this clip, a woman meets her catfish “soulmate” Frank in person for the first time. He’s real after all, just much less imagined.