The term "catfishing" originated from the 2010 American documentary film titled "Catfish," which followed Nev Schulman, a victim of an online deception. In the documentary, the husband of the woman who was deceiving Nev compared her behavior to catfish being shipped with live cod. The metaphorical anecdote explained that catfish were once put in tanks with cod during shipping to keep the cod active and prevent them from becoming lethargic, thus maintaining the quality of the fish. By extension, a "catfish" is someone who keeps others on their toes by creating a fake online persona to deceive or manipulate, especially in romantic contexts. This term then became widely popularized by the documentary and the MTV show "Catfish: The TV Show" that followed. The catfish metaphor itself dates back to a myth circulated by fiction writers in the early 1900s but was aptly used to describe the deceptive practice in modern online interactions.