It is considered as one of the oldest literary devices still used in the modern crime novels. By using these kinds of clues, the author can divert the audience’s attention to a certain direction while the real clues are being presented elsewhere. This is also known as an intentional distraction. You can see this element of misdirection at work in a lot of stories, including Agatha Christie’s “The Murder on the Orient Express.Ī red herring is a false clue or a misleading clue. The expression eventually made its way into the world of literature, where it was used to describe something that was meant to distract readers’ attention from what was really going on in a story.Ī red herring was inserted into the narrative to throw people off track and keep them from guessing what would happen next. Or it could be done in a more literal sense by using actual red-dyed fish as a distraction for tracking dogs. The scent would catch the dog’s attention and lead it away from the area you wanted to keep them in. Tossing a red herring could be as simple as dragging a whole smoked fish across the ground behind you. In a way, they were often kind of like the poor man’s equivalent of a smoke screen. Red herrings were used to distract hunting dogs from their true target. That’s why the origin of the expression “red herring” is so interesting. It’s always a bit disconcerting when your favorite literary figure is actually based on someone who was very much real. Where Does The Expression “Red Herring” Actually Come From? The actual purpose of red herrings or using them as a method of refutation is to make sure you can properly counter your opponent’s points without having to refute their actual argument.īy making them focus on something else, it actually means you can potentially win the argument without having to address the core issues. They can be used in many different ways, but they always serve to make sure that everyone is talking about something else, meaning that they won’t be able to focus on the original issue.
Red herrings are typically used when someone needs to refute an argument that has already been made. They can be used in mystery novels to distract readers from figuring out who committed a crime and why – because once the truth comes out, people see that the red herring was just a distraction and not important at all.
Red herrings appear in film and literature quite often as well. This can take many different forms, from making false statements about their political opponents to providing misleading information about their own company and its products. When someone makes an inaccurate statement or misleads others intentionally, they’re using a red herring. What Is a red herring What Is a red herring?Ī red herring is something that distracts someone from the point they were making.
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