"red-herring word": what does it mean exactly?
Where does it stem from?
In which context it's esp. used?
Thanks
Hi RodolfoC
We've discussed this topic before so you may not get many responses.
A red herring is something that distracts your attention from the real issue, so it is safe to assume that a red-herring word is a word that does just that.
Did you read this anywhere in particular? Perhaps with a bit more context, we could tell you how it applied to your situation.
Date: Mon Oct 9 00:01:20 EDT 2006
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--panmixia
The Canary Islands aren't named after any birds. A light-year isn't a unit of time. And panmixia is, well, nothing to do with mixing things in a pan. These are red-herring words that appear to mislead us in the beginning but if we look deeper, everything becomes obvious.
get with the program, belM! it's one of Anu's recurring themes.