[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

有人話 #Call林鄭嘅bluff，咩意思？
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#明報 A20 | 英文 English | 毛孟靜
//林鄭月娥聲稱非常樂意與香港人對話，於是有人向立法會 民主派議員建議：Let's call her bluff 。這是什麼意思呢？
Call somebody's bluff， 直譯係「叫某人的自我吹噓」， 仍然不明其所以然，是吧？
Bluff 最直接的口語譯法，係「作大」，也即是書面語的 「虛張聲勢」。

To bluff is to try to deceive someone as to one's abilities or intentions，企圖欺騙別人自己有如此這般的能力或意圖， 有自吹自擂之意。用做動詞：
• He's been bluffing all along. 他一直不過在「拋浪頭」、嚇 唬人罷了。
//用做名詞：
• The purchase offer has been denounced as a bluff. 那個 收購建議被視為充大頭鬼的把戲。

有說 ，bluff 等於「充大頭鬼」，源自紙牌撲克 poker 遊 戲：明明沒有一手好牌，卻「二仔底死跟」，強行冒充底牌 是一張皇牌，bluffing your way through，去「大、嚇窒」 對手。
• He bluffed them into surrendering. 他成功嚇得他們投降。 於是倒過頭來，to call somebody's bluff 又可理解為「大返 佢」，去揭對方根本不堪一擊的底牌：

To make an opponent show his hand in order to reveal that its value is weaker than his heavy betting suggests，令 對手攤牌，揭露其「冇料扮四條」。

To challenge someone to carry out a stated intention, in the expectation of being able to expose it as a pretence，去 挑戰某人是否夠膽說到做到，預期由此暴露對方也不過是說 說、裝模作樣罷了。
於是，去 call 林鄭的 bluff，是指民主派議員不如將計就 計，大聲回應樂意與林鄭對話，看她肯不肯，但預期她不會 答應，由此暴露當中的虛偽。
• Carrie Lam says she's happy to dialogue with the people. Huh. Let's call her bluff. 林鄭月娥說她樂意與市民對話。 哈，我哋「大」返佢。

這一幕沒有發生，是因為絕大部分民主派中人都覺得，林 鄭的「底牌」已眾所周知，不必勞師動眾去揭露了。 另例：
• I am tempted to call his bluff as I can hardly believe he would carry out his threat. 我真想叫他「你就來吧」，因為 我絕不相信他的恫嚇。

話說回頭，要非常小心 bluff 這個字，並非淨係代表負 面意思，亦有 being direct, rudely frank, outspoken and unconventional ，率性直接、敢言、反傳統的表達。
• He's a bluff but he's a good teacher.
這句話是說：
他說話即使率直，但他是一個好老師。

文︰毛孟靜//