This would distract the dogs and allow the fishermen to escape. It is said that English fishermen used to drag red herrings across their trails to throw off the scent of hounds following them. The term “red herring” is thought to have originated in the 18th century. While this may be a valid point, it is completely unrelated to the issue at hand and is only being brought up to distract from the real issue.
One person may bring up the fact that the government spends too much money on unnecessary things, such as new furniture for the office of the president. This type of fallacious reasoning is often used in political debates and arguments.įor example, imagine two people arguing about whether or not the government should raise taxes: The red herring fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone introduces irrelevant information in order to distract from the real issue or mislead the other person. This type of red herring is known as the red herring fallacy. Red herrings in literature are different from red herrings in debates or arguments. The key is that it must be something that appears to be significant but is actually irrelevant to the story. It can be an event, character, clue, dialogue, or anything else that seems to point the story in one direction but ultimately leads nowhere. It can be introduced in many different ways. Red herring definitionĪ red herring refers to “something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue.” It's essentially a false clue placed in a story, often referred to as a subversion of Chekhov's gun.Ī red herring is a technique that is often used in detective stories, thrillers, and mystery novels to keep the reader guessing and engaged. We will also explore why writers and filmmakers use them and how they can be effective tools for storytelling. In this article, we will discuss what red herrings are and some common examples from literature and film. It is often introduced to throw the reader or viewer off track and make them question what they are seeing. A red herring is a term used in storytelling to describe a diversionary tactic used to distract the audience from the real story.
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