What is meant by the phrase “It is a red herring”? Where does it come from? I’ve heard it said several times and have no idea what it means. Thanks for your help.
Basically, a red herring is a distraction, a “clue” that’s intended to lead you in the wrong direction.
For instance, let’s say you’re reading an Agatha Christie murder mystery, and Christie introduces a strange, suspicious character. You become convinced that this character must be the guilty party… but as you read further, you learn that this character had NOTHING to do with the crime at all! The character was a “red herring,” a way to turn your attention away from the real killer.
Or, in his LAs Vegas act, David Copperfield may make a host of grand, sweeping gestures, all designed to attract the audience’s attention away from the sleight-of-hand that’s really behind his “magic.”
I’ve read numerous “explanations” for where the phrase “red herring” came from… but frankly, I’m a bit dubious about all of them. I wouldn’t try to pass any of them off as true.
Competition among hounds, especially in years past was a keenly followed sport in some places. A scent lure was dragged along the ground, and later a group of hounds were given the scent, and released. Points were accrued for staying exactly on the path followed by the dragged lure.
In order to train hounds not to investigate unrelated traces they were often given very strong, obvious, and (for a dog) desirable scent lures dragged across the trail. One of the most powerful and tempting of baits was a red herring, dragged across the trail. It became a euphemism for any intentional misdirection left to confuse someone following a trail, or an argument.
Tris
“Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head.” ~ Ambrose Bierce ~
Red herring is the logical fallacy of diverting attention away from the true argument. The name comes from the practice of drawing a bag of smoked red herrings across the trail that a scent hound is supposed to follow, so as to train him not to be distracted by strong odors.
For examples, see http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/red-herring.html
I knew I should have previewed. Oh, well.
Thanks for the info.
From the OED:
The bolding is mine. So Trisk is on the right track, though it was originally just a last second replacement for other animals’ scents used to train the hounds. However, I do think that the “dead Cat” fallacy has a nice ring to it.