Red Herring

When I was young, my father enjoyed snacking on pickled herring.  Herring is a type of fish.  So, pickled herring is quite sour and has an interesting texture.  Sometimes my father would share the pickled herring with me and my sisters.  It is not a flavor that everyone likes, but I do.  In Korea it is very difficult to find proper pickled herring.  The only place I have found it is in Ikea, ONCE!  During last winter’s teacher training, I talked about how much I miss it.  I guess it left an impression on the trainees because this past week, one of those trainees mentioned it again (5 months later).

Pickling herring is not the only way to preserve the meat.  Another type of preservation is called a kipper.  The meat is cured in brine (salt) and heavily smoked.  This makes the fish turn red and become quite pungent (smelly).  I am not sure how this compares with Hongeo (홍어회, Korean fermented smelly fish).  But apparently it was quite smelly.

The phrase, red herring alludes to the kipper herring.  A red herring is something that misleads or distracts someone from relevant or important information.  Until 2008, we believed that hunters would use red herring to train their hunting dogs.  They dragged the herring across the scent of the fox or rabbit.  Eventually the hunting dogs ignored the stronger scent to pursue the original prey.  Another possible origin is that prisoners would use red herring to distract the guard dogs when they tried to escape.

In 2008, the truth behind this idiom was discovered.  Herring was used to train hunting horses, not dogs.  Ideally, the trainer would use a dead cat or fox.  They would drag the carcass in front on the horse to get it accustomed to the chaos of a hunt.  However, the meaning of red herring as a distraction or misdirection is so fixed in English that it is unlikely to change.

Example:  “Sherlock, look at this note.  It says the suspect will be at the theater at midnight.”  “Don’t pay attention to that Watson.  The suspect clearly placed it there to waste our time.  It is a red herring.” 

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