The story
First used by the fictional character Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) in "Not a Father's Day", an episode of the TV series How I Met Your Mother, first broadcast in November 2008.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
cheerleader effect
Today it means: A form of cognitive bias that causes individuals to appear more attractive to an observer when they are in a group. Full definition →