Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

"It's a red herring that misguided people throw up to distract you
from the real issues."

What does it mean?

Well, a herring is a fish, you know, a small Atlantic fish that swims
in large groups and is used for food.
Here's a picture!
http://pingus.seul.org/files/contrib/grumbel/herring.png

But, what about red herrings?
A red herring is a false issue, an unimportant fact or idea someone
throws into the conversation to take peopleʼs attention away from the
important facts and from the matter under consideration.

"He deliberately threw a red herring into the conversation."

According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the origin of this
expression is in the custom of using the scent of a smoked, dried
herring, which was red, to train dogs to hunt.

But I found a longer and slightly different explanation on
www.hindu.com . They say that a herring...

turns red only when it is "cured" - that is, when it is smoked and
salted. The fish emits a very strong smell and in the past criminals
made use of it to help them in their bid to escape. Convicts used the
herring to help them throw dogs off the scent. Since the herring had a
very strong smell, the police dogs followed the scent of the herring
rather than that of the escaped convict! The original expression was
"drag a red herring across the trail", but now it's been reduced to
"red herring".

Other red herrings I fished in the Net:

"The issue of the pay cut is a red herring and is not related to the
main issues."
(www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6720)

"We hadnʼt finished the project yet, but we didnʼt want the boss to
know.  So we threw the boss a party in honor of his birthday as a red
herring.  He forgot all about the projectʼs deadline!
(www.heathermeloche.com)

"The detectives followed all the leads, but unfortunately they were
all red herrings."

"The Minister said that he wouldn't answer the question because it
involved national security; but that was a red herring to avoid a
discussion of the terrible mistakes he had made."
(www.hindu.com)