Awkward Reunion With A Real-Life Catfish Soulmate
B1 English listening practice · American English · Curated for intermediate learners
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.
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this B1 English listening practice listening practice?
General English frequency
Spoken English frequency
Words above this video’s level
Quick glosses for vocabulary that goes beyond this video’s B1 level.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In American MTV reality TV (Catfish: The TV Show)
- ▸In American dating-app news and warnings (Tinder, Hinge, Bumble)
- ▸In American teen and college dating-safety content
- ▸In American crime podcasts about online scams (Sword and Scale, Crime Junkie)
- ▸In American sitcoms about online relationships (The Mindy Project, Black Mirror)