A red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; attention is drawn away from the true guilty party. While there is no such fish as a "red herring", the term red herring refers to preserved herring. The smoking and brining process ga...
more
A red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; attention is drawn away from the true guilty party. While there is no such fish as a "red herring", the term red herring refers to preserved herring. The smoking and brining process gave the fish a distinct reddish-brown colour as well as a strong odour. The term is used in Mother Goose:
It is popularly believed that the idiom originates from a technique of training of young scent hounds involving "red" herrings. The pungent fish would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) perpendicular to the animal's trail to confuse the dog. The...
less
