Clickbait

Today’s Rhymes With Orange:

A subtle pun on bait — understood literally, as in bait for fish, or understood figuratively, as an enticement (in this case to click on a link).

From NOAD2 — literal first, figurative second:

food used to entice fish or other animals as prey: herrings make excellent bait for pike | fishing with live baits.

– an allurement; a thing intended to tempt or entice: she used the prospect of freedom as bait to trap him into talking | many potential buyers are reluctant to take the bait.

On the compound clickbait, see my 7/7/14 posting “Clickbait schemes”, with discussion of the scheme exemplified above, labeled Numerical there.

One Response to “Clickbait”

  1. arturjot Says:

    If only there was a fish called click.

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