Where British Phrases Came From
Monday, Aug 24, 2020, 10:22 am
#15 Red Herring
This comes from fox hunting in the 1800s in the UK and it involved using the scent of herring, which turned red due to smoking it, to distract dogs on fox hunts. People that loved the fox would drag herring away from a fox as they knew the dogs would latch onto it and leave the fox alone.