A red herring is something that pulls attention away from what really matters. The damaged lock was a red herring; the missing key had never left the office. In detective stories, red herrings fool the reader; in arguments, they pull the discussion off topic. A red herring itself is a smoked fish.
When would you say a red herring?
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be a red herring; turn out to be a red herring; introduce a red herring
- The damaged lock was a red herring; the missing key had never left the office.
- The argument about logo colours is a red herring in a discussion about delivery delays.
- The novelist included several red herrings before revealing who had taken the letters.
What changed
First versionThe unusual footprint turned out to be red herring.
RevisionThe unusual footprint turned out to be a red herring.
Red herring sounds like a label or a description, so the article drops: turned out to be red herring. But it's an ordinary countable noun: a red herring, several red herrings.
Beside the point means simply not relevant. A red herring also leads people the wrong way: attention goes somewhere else. A lie is false, while a distracting detail can be perfectly true.
Your turn
The clue pointed to the wrong person and had no connection to the theft; it was ___.
Show the answer
a red herring — The clue pointed to the wrong person and had nothing to do with the theft, so it's a red herring, not a reliable clue.
Describe a meeting or argument where a side topic pulled everyone away from the main issue, using a red herring.
The debate about uniform colours was a red herring; the real question was whether staff had enough protective equipment.
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