Blue-stockings and Red-herrings

While looking for a particular quote today, I came across the word "bluestocking" and in the process was drawn to the word, 'red-herring' which reminded me of a book I recently read, A Red Herring Without Mustard, a Flavia de Luce novel by Alan Bradley.   I liked how the words go together so had a go at pursuing this digression in my 'busy day' of yard work, family chatter, and preparations for our turkey dinner - where I'm sure there will be conversation, banter and yes, even some distracting comments... 

Here are a few thoughts I ferreted out on the internet ...

Bluestocking:  a woman having intellectual or literary interests / an educated woman who is interested in books and ideas.

Any group of ladies who in mid-18th century England held "conversations' to which they invited men of letters and members of the aristocracy with literary interests.  The word has come to be applied derisively to a woman who affects literary or learned interests.  The Bluestockings attempted to replace social evenings spent playing cards and idle chatter with something more intellectually.  The term probably originated when one of the ladies, Mrs. Vesey, invited the learned Benjamin Stillingfleet to one of her parties; he declined because he lacked appropriate dress, whereupon she told him to come "in his blue stockings' - the ordinary worsted stockings as opposed to the black silk stockings which were required for formal evening dress.


A Red herring is a clue which is intentionally or unintentionally misleading or distracting from the actual issue; used to divert attention from the real problem or matter at hand.  The term is mostly used to claim that the argument of another person is not relevant to the issue being discussed.  In mystery fiction, a clue or lead that turns out not to be relevant to the solution of the mystery would also be a red herring....

The term is generally believed to come 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.  Thus, a "red herring" argument is one which distracts the audience from the issue in question through the introduction of some irrelevancy.  This frequently occurs during debates... by extension, it applies to any argument in which the premisses are logically irrelevant to the conclusion.... [www.fallacyfiles.org]

Personally:  I like the idea of a group of women getting together to discuss, dialogue about what they have read.  But somehow the idea of a "Book Club" never quite drew me... I would never be able to confine my thoughts to one book at a time... somehow there needs to be a bit more pizazz, a bit more dialogue, a bit more pursuing of ideas and some reflection.

I like mysteries so red herrings somehow work into my thoughts constantly and in chatting with others I'm frequently drawing my mind back to the present topic.  I live with the tension of intently and single-mindedly pursuing the fox or following a more inviting path in the woodland. I always hope that the paths will somehow come together in the end.

Starting to ramble here but just putting it out there for all you book-minded, mystery loving ladies, who may or may not have had a longing to wear blue stockings and pursue dialogue where red-herrings are allowed .... I'm willing, how about you???