Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.
**Rob
**And I’m Rob! Now, Feifei, can you help me with this social media post I’m trying to write?
FeifeiI’ll try – what do you want to say?
**Rob
**I want to post something about how tired I am because I’ve been working so hard - and how I just can’t go on.
FeifeiHmm, it looks like you’re looking for sympathy.
**Rob
**Sympathy? No, I just want to tell people how exhausted I am because I am so hard working. You just don’t understand!
FeifeiI completely understand – you are sadfishing!
**Rob
**Sadfishing – I don’t even like fish!
FeifeiNo, Rob. You’re fishing for sympathy. When someone is ‘sadfishing’, they are exaggerating their emotional problems, particulary via social media, so they get sympathy or attention from others.
**Rob
**Hmm, that doesn’t sound like me. Right, well I’m going to send my post now – there, done.
FeifeiGood luck. Let’s hear some examples of sadfishing…
ExamplesHe got lots of ‘likes’ for his post about having no friends, but I think he was sadfishing – he’s got loads of mates.
I don’t know if Heidi really has a problem with her skin – I think she’s just sadfishing and wants attention.
Some people say there’s a growing trend for sadfishing and people just share their worries online to get noticed. But I wonder if it’s a cry for help?
FeifeiThis is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English, and we’re talking about the expression ‘sadfishing’, which describes when someone exaggerates their emotional problems, particularly on social media, to get sympathy or attention. It’s not a nice thing to do. So, Rob, how’s your ‘sadfishing’ going?
**Rob
**It’s not sadfishing, Feifei. I’m just telling people about my terrible life so they understand – and look, I have received a comment already.
FeifeiOh, who from?
**Rob
**It’s from Roy. He says “Stop moaning! I work even harder, every weekend and every evening but it’s OK because I love my job!”
FeifeiIt looks like he’s fishing too.
**Rob
**What, sadfishing?
FeifeiNo, fishing for compliments - trying to get someone to say something good about him.
**Rob
**No, he’s just sad - working at weekends! Perhaps my life isn’t so bad - I think I’ll delete my post now.
FeifeiGood idea. Bye, Rob.
**Rob
**Bye.