Where does "red herring" come from?
Question
Where does the phrase "red herring" come from?
Erin, Bermondsey
Answer
** Definitive **
Name: Chris, Biggin Hill
QUalification: I've read a book called Red Herrings and White Elephants
Answer: In the early 1800s, the early fox hunter saboteurs used to take a red herring from a local fishery and drag it along the route, so it would confuse the hounds, thereby creating the phrase red herring, meaning something misleading.