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Hello and welcome to the English we speak. I'm Fay Fay Faye.

And I'm Rob. Now, Faye, can you help me with this social media post I'm trying to write?

I'll try what do you want to say? Well 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.

Hmm, it looks like you're looking for sympathy?

Sympathy? No, I just want to tell people how exhausted I am because I'm so hard working.

You just don't understand. I completely understand. You are sad fishing.

Sad fishing? I don't even like fish.

No, Rob. You're fishing for sympathy.

When someone is sad fishing, they're exaggerating their emotional problems, particularly via

social media. So they get sympathy or attention from others?

That doesn't sound like me.

Right, well, I'm going to send my post now.

There, done.

Good luck.

Let's hear some examples of sad fishing.

He got lots of likes for his post about having no friends, but I think he was sad fishing. He's got loads of mates.

I don't know if Heidi really has a problem with her skin. I think she's just sad fishing and wants attention.

Some people say there's a growing trend for sad fishing and people just share their

worries online to get noticed, but I wonder if it's a cry for help.

This is the English we speak from BBC Learning English and we're talking about the

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