by Albert Jack What does either a Red Herring (a false or misleading clue) or a White Elephant (something useless, usually pointing to public buildings, that becomes a burden, much like our country's facilities...) has anything to do with their respective meanings? Just as the foreword of the book implied, such sayings are part and parcel of the everyday English and most native speakers are familiar with them, seldom giving them a thought. Unfortunately non-native English learners will most probably be confused, even perplexed, by the choice of words. Although the usual response from teachers are to 'learn by heart', it does help to know the origins of such phrases and have a laugh at it while closing the distance between the learner and the phrases. Even native speakers who apply such phrases will almost certainly at a time or another have thought of why certain sayings sound so ridiculous and how did it get to become as such. Red Herrings & White Elep...
