About

Hatfish is a pejorative slang term used to describe men who conceal their bald or malformed heads underneath hats like beanies and baseball caps. The name is a portmanteau of the words "hat" and "catfish".

Origin

On May 23rd, 2014, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Manda Clark submitted an entry for "hatfish," defining it as "a guy who looks completely different (sexy) while wearing a hat or cap" (shown below).

Spread

On December 11th, 2016, Instagram user @adamw uploaded a comedy sketch about a man who refuses to take off his hat, which included the hashtag "#hatfished" (shown below). Within 14 months, the video gained over 913,000 views.

On May 31st, 2017, Twitter user @CodyDominic_^[2] posted photographs of a balding man wearing a baseball cap and exposing his head, which gained more than 750 retweets and 500 likes in nine months (shown below, left). On June 1st, Twitter user @Tswana_Guy3 tweeted a photograph of a man wearing a hat next to a photograph revealing his bald head along with the message "So apparently this is called a Hatfish 💀💀" (shown below, right). Within eight months, the tweet gained over 280 likes and 260 retweets.

On August 8th, an Urban Dictionary^[4] definition for "hatfishing" was submitted by user TheDarkKnightLight. On August 23rd, The Cut^[6] published an article titled "If You’ve Never Seen the Top of Your Tinder Date’s Head, Perhaps You’re Being Hatfished." On August 25th, the women's interest site Mel^[5] published an article titled "In Defense of 'Hatfishing'," which cited the Ashley VanPEvenage's makeup transformation photo when arguing in favor of covering baldness with a hat.

On February 2nd, 2018, Twitter user @DariusUncensord^[3] tweeted a photograph of himself wearing a hat followed by a photo exposing his bald head along with the hashtag "#BlackMenSmiling": (shown below). In response, several people replied that he was an example of a "hatfish."

Search Interest

External References