Talk:Red herring

From Citizendium
Revision as of 18:03, 30 March 2008 by imported>Benjamin Breakstone
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
 Main Article
 Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
To learn how to update the categories for this article, see here. To update categories, edit the metadata template.
 Definition:  A literary device that deliberately or unintentionally diverts attention from a line of enquiry, topic, or suspect. [d] [e]
Checklist and Archives
 Workgroup categories:  Literature and Visual Arts [Editors asked to check categories]
 Talk Archive:  none  English language variant:  American English

Very rough outline:

Red herring - General definition of the term as a plot device

Etymology - Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (R 803 Br): "A deliberate or sometimes unintentional diversion, which distracts from a line of enquiry or a topic under discussion. A red herring (i.e. one dried, smoked, and salted) drawn across a fox's path destroys the scent and faults the hounds".

Early example of phrase being used in the sense of plot device if possible.

Example from Detective_fiction

Possibly an example of a visual red herring from film?

Retrieved from "https://citizendium.org/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Red_herring&oldid=438789"