Roots
Red herring words
Deepti

Red herring words are words that can mislead people because they do not mean what they seem to mean. For instance, the Canary Islands have nothing to do with the bird, the canary, but are named so because in Roman times, one of the islands had a big population of large dogs, so the Romans named it ‘canaria’ or ‘island of dogs’ from the Latin word ‘canis’ for dog. The name stuck and the complete group of islands was named after that island.

Later on, when zoologists discovered a species of finch on the islands, they named it the canary because of the name of the islands. Similarly, a light year sounds like a unit of time but is not so. It is a unit of distance that records how far light can travel in a year.

The expression ‘red herring’ is used for anything that is a false impression or a misleading clue. The word ‘red herring’ is the name of a fish and its interesting history determines its metaphorical use. A story from the world of hunting explains the whole process of making a red herring. The curing process turned the fish a red colour and lent it a distinctive smell. The fish was then tied to a string and dragged through the woods to teach hunting dogs to follow a trail. Later, red herrings were used to confuse the hounds in order to prolong a foxhunt or to test their ability to stay with a scent.

Another tale attributes the use of the herring to poachers, who used the scent to throw the dogs off the trail of game so they could claim the prize for themselves. Whether the prey was a fugitive or a fox, this pungent fish did the trick and distracted the dogs.

In the 19th century, British fugitives would rub a herring across their trail, thereby diverting the bloodhounds that were hot in pursuit. American investment bankers in the twentieth century started calling preliminary prospectuses ‘red herrings’ as a warning to investors that the documents were not complete or final and could be misleading.

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