wokefish

Blend of woke +‎ catfish.

wokefish (plural wokefish or wokefishes)

1. (Internet slang) Someone who pretends to be woke and in favour of progressive political ideologies on a social media or dating platform.
   • 2020 July 30, Ben Cost, “Wokefish’ dating trend: Shady men are pretending to be progressive on apps”, in New York Post:

     Couple this with the apparent nationwide divide over issues ranging from George Floyd’s death to wearing coronavirus masks, and you’ve got the ideal environment for the wokefish to thrive.

   • 2020 August 1, 'Wokefish' dating trend sees people pretending to be progressive on apps, in Fox News:

     “A wokefish may at first present themselves as a protest-attending, sex-positive, anti-racist, intersectional feminist who drinks ethically sourced oat milk and has read the back catalogue of Audre Lorde, twice.” However, in actuality, these practitioners of false identity politics couldn’t care less.

   • 2020 August 19, Diandra Malivindi, “Forget 'Ghosting', 'Wokefishing' Is The New Dating Trend To Keep On Your Radar”, in Elle Australia:

     So before you start mentally planning your wedding, we're here to show you how a 'wokefish' can be hidden in plain sight, and how you can avoid the disappointment of date who is less than truthful.

wokefish (third-person singular simple present wokefishes, present participle wokefishing, simple past and past participle wokefished)

1. (Internet slang, transitive) To pretend to be woke on an online platform to deceive (someone).
   • 2020 July 28, Have You Been ‘Wokefished’ While Dating? Here’s How to Tell in VICE:

     It confirmed what I’d begun to suspect: as much as he’d reeled me in with an outwardly “woke” persona, in reality, we were never going to see eye to eye. I had been wokefished.

   • 2020 July 30, Ben Cost, “Wokefish’ dating trend: Shady men are pretending to be progressive on apps”, in New York Post:

     Wokefishing notwithstanding, Layla told Vice she isn’t optimistic about the prospects of dating outside of political bubbles.

   • 2020 August 5, ‘Wokefishing’ is the new awful trend on dating apps you have to watch out for in Yahoo News:

     Vice writer Serena Smith has coined this new one, “wokefishing,” to describe when someone essentially tricks someone else into talking to them or going out with them by pretending to be more progressive than they actually are on dating apps.]

   • 2020 August 6, Bridie Pearson-Jones, “Have YOU been wokefished? New dating trend sees singles pretending to be more progressive than they are to attract sexual partners including a neo-Nazi who claimed to long for diversity”, in Daily Mail:

     Smith, from Leeds, claims she herself was a victim of wokefishing, as her former partner had lured her in believing the pair had similar beliefs, but revealed his true self when she decided to become vegan, sending her patronising texts with derogatory language.

   • 2020 August 8, What is wokefishing and how can you spot it? in Metro UK:

     […] wokefishing describes when someone pretends to hold progressive – or ‘woke’ views to lure another person into dating them.

   • 2020 August 19, Diandra Malivindi, “Forget 'Ghosting', 'Wokefishing' Is The New Dating Trend To Keep On Your Radar”, in Elle Australia:

     The penny drops, and you realise that you've been wokefished.

• catfish
• fauxgressive