From Tom Bourbon [931203.1504]
I've received some off-net remarks that convince me one of my allusions
this morning was not as clear as I had hoped. I certainly do not want what
was intended as a joke to be taken incorrectly.
In my post [Tom Bourbon -- 931203.0846], I concluded with a comment about a
post from Martin Taylor [931202 14:00], which Martin began by saying he was,
"Donning my "red-herring-chaser" cap...". Over a :-)), I said it looked
like he had donned his red-herring-laying cap, and with reference to myself
I said, "This hound has not been faulted."
By "faulted," I did not mean "blamed," or "accused." My allusion was to
hunting with the hounds. I have never participated in that activity, but
I lived for many years in a part of Texas where it was popular, so I picked
up some of the jargon.
The phrase, "drawing a red herring across the trail," seems to have
originated in reference to a practice that would cause the hounds to lose
the scent, hence the trail. When that happened, the hound was said to have
been "faulted," or "checked." It had lost the scent and stopped the chase.
To say that "the hounds have not been faulted" is merely to say that the
attempted diversion did not work; they are still on the trail.
Until later,
Tom