red herring

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 145294

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ralph Miller" <papa at m...> 
wrote:
>
> Corey:
> "What did you mean by a red herring?"
> 
> Martha:
> >> I think the term "red herring" means a story or event 
> deliberately set up to distract attention away something else.  
> For example, we were all made to believe that Snape was after 
> the stone in the first book, when the perpetrator was actually 
> Quirrell.  Setting up all the suspicion about Snape was a "red
> herring", to distract us from other suspects.  I have no idea 
> where the phrase comes from! <<
> 
> 
> RM:
> You are correct. According to the "Fallacy Files":
> The name of this fallacy comes from the sport of fox hunting in 
> which a dried, smoked herring, which is red in color, is dragged 
> across the trail of the fox to throw the hounds off the scent. 

Geoff:
Another phrase which covers this question of tricking people into 
believing the wrong things is "to pull the wool over someone's eyes."