Lexicon ·
wokefishing
noun, also verb (to wokefish)
- Stated meaning
- Pretending to hold progressive political views on a dating profile to attract partners.
- Operating meaning
- Values listed on a profile at a higher figure than the holder carries, on the assumption that the buyer audits the listing and not the conduct.
- Origin
- Defined by Serena Smith in Vice in July 2020, which named no coiner. Cambridge Dictionary entered it in July 2023.
In July 2020 Vice (opens in a new window) defined the word: “‘Wokefishing’, put simply, is when people masquerade as holding progressive political views to ensnare potential partners.” Serena Smith’s article named no coiner. Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new window) entered it 3 years later as “pretending to care more than you actually do about social problems such as racism and inequality in order to attract someone you want to have a romantic relationship with.”
The 2 definitions disagree on the size of the fraud. Vice describes a set of views assumed. Cambridge describes a quantity overstated: care that is held, in some amount, and claimed in a larger one. The dictionary’s version puts the word in the same family as kittenfishing, which rounds a profile up, and further from catfishing, which counterfeits one.
Under load, the profile lists a position, and a position is cheap to list and expensive to audit. A view can be checked only against conduct, over time, in situations a first date does not supply. The listing holds until the conduct is observed, and the person who bought on it learns the true figure the way every buyer of a rounded-up profile does, after the purchase. The seller, meanwhile, has learned which positions sell.