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Catfishing
Catfishing

Learn English meaning of 'Catfishing'

Date: Sep 16 2016

Themes: News, Pop Culture, Tech

Grammar: Adverbs

Intro

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What do you think about online dating? Is it safe? Nowadays, many people look for love on the internet. It’s even possible to meet someone who lives in another place and start a long-distance relationship with them. But before a long-distance relationship turns into something more serious, you should make sure the other person isn’t phony.

We use the term “catfish” to talk about a person who pretends to be someone else on the internet. Usually, this person wants money or attention. They use a different identity and often pretend to be younger or more attractive. They might tell you only minimal personal information while they try to get a lot of information from you. So, be careful the next time you fall in love online!

Andy met a woman on the internet, and Kelsey wants to look into who this woman is. Listen to this English lesson to find out more about Andy’s date!

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Andy_H

Andy_H

Kelsey

Kelsey

Andy_H:  Hey, Kelsey. I want to talk to you about something.

Kelsey:  Yeah.

Andy_H:  So, I sort of got a date.

Kelsey:  Wow! With who?

Andy_H:  Well, I haven’t met her yet. We met online, and I’m not a hundred percent sure if her online identity is who she says she is.

Kelsey:  Yeah. Have you seen the show Catfish?

Andy_H:  I’ve never even heard of it. What is it?

Kelsey:  There’s a thing called catfishing where somebody pretends to be somebody they’re not. You should really look into this person’s identity.

Andy_H:  I guess I should. It’s weird. I want to make sure she’s not fake or phony. Her pictures, you know, they are very minimal, and I really don’t even know who this person is.

Kelsey:  Have you looked for her on other social networks?

Andy_H:  I haven’t, but I can’t really make her friends for me on Facebook.

Kelsey:  Hmmm. And where’s she from? Is this going to turn into a long-distance relationship?

Andy_H:  Well, I don’t see that happening any time soon, considering we haven’t even gone on the first date, but I guess we’ll have to see where our relationship takes us.

Kelsey:  OK. Well, I think we should get online right now and check this out.

Andy_H:  Alright.

 

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Discussion

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Andy thinks he sort of has a date. He met a woman on the internet, and now he wants to learn more about her before they meet in real life. Andy is worried that the woman might be phony. She has a minimal amount of photos of herself online.

Kelsey also wants to look into the identity of this woman. Kelsey is Andy’s friend, so she wants to make sure that Andy doesn’t get hurt. She tells Andy about catfishing, when someone pretends to be someone they’re not. Kelsey says Andy must check this out before he starts a long-distance relationship with the woman.

What do you think about a long-distance relationship? How can you make sure your boyfriend or girlfriend is not phony?

 

Comments

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mohamma

mohamma

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Don’t be fake!

06:27 PM Sep 21 2016 |

Hamedrees

Hamedrees

Sudan

It’s the decade of Social Media . 


So it depends on your selection and how to make it strong as you want .


06:16 AM Sep 21 2016 |

GrammaristSuper Member!

United Arab Emirates

A long-distance relationship is to a great extent impossible and, frankly, sometimes beyond one’s expectations. However, real dating, on the other hand, is more effective when it comes to identifying people’s “real personalities.”


I don’t feel right when dating someone online, especially when it takes longer than expected to finally reach reality, where we can sit at a table and look at each other—face-to-face. Unfortunately, it is still devastating if the relationship ends up nowhere, other than behind the realm of the digital world. In order to feel more secure and comfortable, as you practice online dating, you should also look into the person’s other social media accounts to see whether or not they share commonalities, track the attitudes they tend to portray online, and use effective applications that will help you better judge their actions and behavior.


I am sure there are thousands of people who experience fidelity in online dating, and even though it is possible, this sort of relationship is vulnerable to deception.

05:18 AM Sep 21 2016 |

msSmith

msSmith

Ukraine

I thing it is may be realy cool, but only for a litlle time. Very soon you have woried

03:41 PM Sep 18 2016 |

hermitlady

China


 Another said, if you have no desire or attempt or greedy to a person, you must not be deceived by this person.


02:40 AM Sep 18 2016 |

hermitlady

China


 Maybe it is beautiful. It was said that distance produce beauty, wasn’t it?



  But the same time I would thought it was suffering, because you couldn’t see each other at any time when you wanted to see. It was inconvenient in distance.



  Oh, what is the phony? When a person who you maybe love, can’t make you feeling uncertain, unstable, uneasy, intranquil, I would thought this person was right for you. Of course, he or she may take you to meet his or her friends or her parents or her relations.



 



  When a person who was in love with you  always made you feeling somewhere was wrong, or feeling uncertain, you could think the person was whether phony or dishonest.  He or she couldn’t let you to see his or her friends or parents even though you really wanted to see. But he or she could find many pretexts to avoid that.



 


02:36 AM Sep 18 2016 |

angly

angly

China

I have never meet person on the internet。Because I think the internet is too complex.For me,I don’t know this message is ture or fake.I think that distinguishing a person is more difficult than message.So I am against meet a person on the internet.

12:46 PM Sep 17 2016 |

1 person likes this

Ermolaeva

Ermolaeva

Russian Federation

I think that relationhips shouldnt be long-distant. if you have meet a person on the internet, which you think you like or have fun talking , then you should find a chance to meet him or her . Also by meeting or first date you can see either person is true or a phony. 

11:34 AM Sep 17 2016 |

abdullah201933

Saudi Arabia

I think most important is truth  it does not matter the realotionship has been during the internet or real life ! 



sometimes the relationship within the internet has been more lovely than reality life


however when u fall in love you will be one of those who loses his or her mind


bcs the distance relationship can always put your thinking away from ur real life


for me i prefer to make distance relationship it can give us a lots of experience


whatever is it ..

06:53 AM Sep 17 2016 |

1 person likes this

MissC

Germany

Thanks for the lesson :)

11:20 AM Sep 16 2016 |

1 person likes this

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