Red herring
Meaning
A red herring is a clue or piece of information that is intended to be misleading or distracting.
Origin
The phrase "red herring" is widely attributed to the English journalist William Cobbett in 1807. He recounted a story from his boyhood about using a pungent, smoked red herring to train hounds, dragging it across a trail to teach them to follow a scent despite strong distractions. He also described using it to throw off pursuing hounds. Cobbett employed this vivid image as a metaphor to criticize the sensationalist press of his time, which he felt was deliberately distracting the public from serious political matters with trivial stories. Whether his anecdotes were literal or allegorical, Cobbett’s memorable use cemented the term in the English language as a potent symbol for any misleading clue or diversion.
Examples
- The detective realized the suspicious footprint was just a red herring, cleverly planted to lead him away from the real culprit.
- During the debate, the politician introduced an unrelated anecdote, hoping it would serve as a red herring to deflect from the difficult question.