Red herring why

Believe it or not, red herring has as much to do with hunting dogs as with brightly colored fish. Here's how: A herring is a soft-finned bony fish. People who like to eat herring have long preserved them by salting and slowly smoking them. That process makes a herring turn red or dark brown - and gives them a very strong smell.

Dogs love to sniff such smelly treats, a fact that makes the fish a perfect diversion for anyone trying to distract hunting dogs from the trail of their quarry. The practice of using preserved fish to confuse hunting dogs led to the use of the term red herring for anything that diverts attention from the issue at hand. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'red herring.

Send us feedback. See more words from the same century. Accessed 12 Nov. More Definitions for red herring. See the full definition for red herring in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Painting them red might well have been inspired by the smoked herring, but it would seem to me that red herring's ties top something false or contrived in the sense of a near decoy would more reasonably go back to that use.

Hunting lore. Centuries back when English lords and ladies? The phrase has now come to be known as a way of distracting the opposition from a true course of action, etc. Here's a reference I found in my ngram search for red herring. In "Four letters to the Hon. John Stuart Wortley" by William Cobbett , Cobbett appears to recount using the red herring as a cunning way to get back at Mr.

George Bradley by leading their hunting party away from the hare they were hunting, away from the trail, and into a swamp. Cobbett relates the story of his youth to the Honorable John Stuart Wortley as an analogy to the willful deception that he claims is present in "A Brief Inquiry into the True Award of an Equitable Adjustment between the Nation and its Creditors", which Wortley had published earlier.

I'm not sure it's the first reference, but it's the first time I see the term used as an analogy. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

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Asked 10 years, 5 months ago. Active 2 years, 8 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Sven Yargs k 30 30 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Mark Meuer Mark Meuer 1 1 gold badge 3 3 silver badges 6 6 bronze badges. Sorry about that.

This was my first foray into English. I'll try to more diligent about that in the future. Bogdan Lataianu: You may be a bit 'previous' there. I'm going to raise the matter of 'red herring' in metaphorical use. There may well be something worth investigating here Just as a followup in case anyone looks here to find out the origin of this word or others, there's a great etymology dictionary online these days: etymonline.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Edit: Also there's this wiktionary entry It originated from a news story by English journalist William Cobbett, c. Improve this answer. Philoto Philoto 5, 21 21 silver badges 15 15 bronze badges. Yes, but it's important to quote also from wiktionary: "Until , the accepted etymology of the idiom was that red herring were used to train dogs to track scents.

This has proven to be a false etymology " with a link to worldwidewords. I don't think ask. Well, we're not very interested in wrong etymologies, even if they were considered as right ones for almost two centuries, right?

Anyway, I think it all is very interesting. But it's also very good to label false etymology as such. So, Theta30, are you implying that ask. A match that is potentially even earlier, but is limited to a snippet view and therefore not fully confirmed, appears in The Universal Museum and Complete Magazine , volume 2 , date not confirmed [combined snippets]: Lord G.

Conclusion In all three cases red herring as dog-training scent, red herring as consubstantiated bacon, and red herring as false prize at the end of long service , the fish can be seen as a metaphor for deception. Community Bot 1. Sven Yargs Sven Yargs k 30 30 gold badges silver badges bronze badges. FumbleFingers FumbleFingers k 45 45 gold badges silver badges bronze badges.

I agree with the sentiment: "The oft-repeated explanation of red herrings being used to deflect hounds sounds a little fanciful to me". If a convict did have access to some stinky fish, and managed to escape with some on their person, the smell of fish juice would be all over their hands and likely clothes; I'd just train my search hounds to FOLLOW the scent of the herring, which would still lead me to the convict on the run.

In other words, that etymology smells downright fishy to me If a herring is dragged across a trail that hounds are following, it throws them off the scent. Something that draws attention away from the central issue, as in Talking about the new plant is a red herring to keep us from learning about downsizing plans. The herring in this expression is red and strong-smelling from being preserved by smoking.

The idiom alludes to dragging a smoked herring across a trail to cover up the scent and throw off tracking dogs. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! See synonyms for red herring on Thesaurus. Also called red-herring prospectus. Securities and Exchange Commission: so called because the front cover of such a prospectus must carry a special notice printed in red.

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms. Origin of red herring late Middle English word dating back to — Words nearby red herring red-headed , red-headed woodpecker , red heart , red heat , red hepatization , red herring , redhibition , red hind , redhorse , red-hot , red-hot poker.

Where does red herring come from? Did you know Words related to red herring ploy , bait , commotion , curve ball , deviation , distraction , distractor , disturbance , diversion , false face , fool's errand , gimmick , interruption , maneuver , wild-goose chase.

How to use red herring in a sentence Blaming a busted deal on "market conditions" is a well-worn red herring. Two historical mystery novels plunge readers into the past while keeping them guessing Clare McHugh February 8, Washington Post.

Some bacteria are suffocating sea stars, turning the animals to goo Erin Garcia de Jesus January 20, Science News. The Bondboy George W.