red herrings
Deliberate wild gooses
Red herrings are things that mislead or distract from the main issue.
The term comes from the pungent smoked fish, which could supposedly throw hunting dogs off a scent.
In mysteries and thrillers, a red herring is a false clue planted to mislead readers: The butler turned out to be a red herring.
In arguments, it's an irrelevant point that diverts attention: Don't let them distract you with red herrings.
- cluesHints toward answers
- misdirectionIntentional focus manipulation
- distractionThing diverting one's attention
- decoyFalse target for misdirection
- smokescreenConcealment through misdirection
smoke and mirrors · detective · murder mystery · ruse · cozy mystery · whodunit · crime fiction · subterfuge · diversion · wild goose chase · garden path · sidetrack · feint · MacGuffin · narrative device · logical fallacy · mislead · lies
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- sleuthingclues, detective work, evidence gathering, fingerprints, footprints
- thriller elementstwists, suspense, tension, anticipation, cliffhanger
- thrillerssuspense, thriller, nail-biter, page-turner, cliffhanger
- storytelling techniquesflashback, voiceover, subplot, flash forward, twist
red herringsreal evidence
Tangible objects proving facts
smoking guns · proof · hard evidence · material evidence · corroborating evidence
deception, deceive, deceptive, misleading, misleads, herringbone, herrings, misleader, red herring