Swatting and Catfishing-Words with New Meanings

I don’t think I’ll ever run out new words (or just new to me) to write about but if I do there will always be new meanings to old words to consider.

For instance when I read swatting and catfishing, I think of lazy days on a pond or dock with a rod and reel in my hand and an occasional mosquito buzzing around my head. But lately both swatting and catfishing have taken on new meanings.

The swatting that’s been in the news lately still implies a nuisance, but its latest definition has to do with false alarms where SWAT teams are called out to celebrity residences to resolve phantom hostage situations or bomb scares. Seems like a much bigger nuisance than a buzzing blood thirsty mosquito.

Then there’s catfishing, and not for tender fried fillets  The only similarity between the old and new might be that catfish and catfishing both deal with bottom feeding. The latest meaning involves performing a hoax at an online dating site. Sadly the catfisher takes advantage of someone looking for an online relationship, love in one of the wrong places, obviously, and in many instances the catfisher profits by deceiving and receiving gifts and money. These scams recently received national attention when a Notre Dame Football player was duped, but apparently catfishing scams have been in existence for a while. I would imagine there would be some social stigma attached to admitting being a victim of catfishing but now that there’s been exposure I hope the lonely hearts will if nothing more, be more wary of these hoaxes. They might have better luck looking for love at a neighborhood fish fry.