A "red herring" is a piece of information or argument that distracts attention from the real issue. In detective fiction, it is a false clue that leads investigators down the wrong path. In arguments, it is a tactic that introduces irrelevant information to avoid the actual question. Lawyers, politicians, and storytellers all use red herrings — intentionally or otherwise.
A red herring is a real thing: a herring that has been heavily smoked and cured until it turns a reddish-brown colour. The smoking process creates an extremely strong, pungent smell. Kippers are a type of red herring.
The figurative meaning comes from hunting. Hunters training hounds would drag a smoked herring across a trail to teach dogs to follow a scent and stay on track. The strong fish smell would temporarily overwhelm other scents. Alternatively — and this is the origin of the modern meaning — a smoked herring could be dragged across a game trail to mislead hounds and throw them off the quarry's scent.
The political journalist William Cobbett brought the phrase into figurative use in 1807, writing about how he had once used a red herring to distract hunting dogs from a hare: he used the story as a metaphor for the press being distracted from the important political issues of the day by trivial distractions.
The term became particularly popular in detective fiction, where authors like Agatha Christie perfected the art of the red herring — introducing suspects, clues, and events that seem significant but ultimately mislead. A well-placed red herring is a mark of good mystery writing.
Because hunters and trainers would drag a smoked (red) herring across a trail to distract or retrain hunting dogs. The strong smell could override other scents, sending the dogs in the wrong direction. William Cobbett used this as a political metaphor in 1807, and the figurative meaning stuck.
Yes. In legal argument, a red herring is an irrelevant point raised to distract from the central issue. Prosecutors and defence lawyers sometimes accuse each other of introducing red herrings to confuse a jury or obscure facts.