Red herring
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| - | A '''red herring''' is a [[metaphor]] for a [[diversion]] or [[distraction]] from an original objective. An example can be found in academic examinations, particularly in [[mathematics]] and [[physical sciences]]. In some questions, information may be provided which is not necessary to solve the given problem. The presence of extraneous data often causes those taking the exam to spend too much time on the question, reducing the time given to other problems and potentially lowering the resulting score. Red herrings are frequently used in literature and cinema mysteries, where a character is presented to make the reader/viewer believe he/she is the obvious perpetrator, when in reality it is someone far less suspect. | + | |
| + | A '''''red herring''''' is a clue which is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual issue. For example, in [[mystery fiction]], where the identity of a criminal is being sought, an innocent party may be purposefully cast in a guilty light by the author through the employment of deceptive clues, false emphasis, "loaded" words or other descriptive tricks of the trade. The reader's suspicions are thus misdirected, allowing the true culprit to go (temporarily at least) undetected. A [[false protagonist]] is another example of a red herring. | ||
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| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| * ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' | * ''[[And Then There Were None]]'' | ||
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A red herring is a clue which is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual issue. For example, in mystery fiction, where the identity of a criminal is being sought, an innocent party may be purposefully cast in a guilty light by the author through the employment of deceptive clues, false emphasis, "loaded" words or other descriptive tricks of the trade. The reader's suspicions are thus misdirected, allowing the true culprit to go (temporarily at least) undetected. A false protagonist is another example of a red herring.
See also
- And Then There Were None
- Chekhov's gun
- Chewbacca defense
- Five Red Herrings
- Foreshadowing
- Ignoratio elenchi
- Judgmental language
- Plot twist
- Red herring prospectus
- Twelve Red Herrings
- The Killing
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Red herring" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
