Until a few weeks ago, when the talk radio voices began chattering about Manti Te’o, I was completely unaware of what catfishing was. But it turns out I’ve actually been catfished before — by actual catfish, no less — and I’ll bet you have, too.

For those of you who still aren’t hip, let me break it down: Te’o, a Notre Dame linebacker, was the (victim? perpetrator?) of a hoax in which he had a girlfriend who existed only as an Internet presence. A person who falls for such a hoax — which has apparently become common enough to be a thing — is said to have been “catfished.” The term came from a 2010 documentary called Catfish, which was about a couple guys fooling another guy by creating a Facebook account with a female name and photos and then doing a bit of online flirting. In the film, it’s explained that catfish are put into tanks with cod intended for live shipping, as the catfish keep the cod active so the flesh won’t be mushy when they arrive at their destination (sounds odd to me). Then there was an MTV show of the same name, in which more or less the same thing happens. So, basically, a catfish is an online creeper who goes around pretending to be something they’re not, mostly because they’re nuts.