A Red Herring

As is often the case, I have been using a turn of phrase for many years without understanding the origins of it. In this instance, I’m referring to the expression “red herring,” as used to describe a purposeful distraction.

Living with my island girl, I am much more sensitive to these odd snippets we often throw around in our English language. They can prove confounding to her. After using the phrase the other day, it occurred to me that I had no way of explaining it.

Time to activate the Google Machine.

Turns out, according to the machine, the phrase “red herring” emerged from an actual fish, a herring that’s been heavily salted and smoked until it turns reddish-brown and develops a powerful odor.

The muscular scent is key. A popular story claims these stinky fish were dragged across trails to throw hunting dogs off the scent, but the historical evidence for that tale is pretty thin. English journalist William Cobbett helped popularize the expression in 1807 when he used a supposed childhood experience with a red herring as a metaphor for misleading news reports. Today, a red herring still stands as anything that distracts us from the real issue.

—Mitchell Hegman