i dont get what the red herring thing means?
is it becuz i’m american?
is it like when people say there is a big elephant in the room and they mean they is something really obvious and awkward in the room that we are all ignoring?
thanks for the help
Kristina
Hi Kristina. A ‘red herring’ is something which throws you off the scent of what you are really looking for. It is most commonly used in connection with detective stories/whodunnits.
I may be reading into your comic with my own experiences, but are you representing a church where people are adamant about shaking hands and saying “Good to see you!” or “It’s so good to have you!” but rarely get involved with you beyond those social conventions–in a sense, serving as red herrings when all we want sometimes is a nice handshake (hell, I’d take a hug or a kiss on the cheek) from someone whose toilet I’ve actually sat upon in the last few weeks?
in answer to jason (hi!) and others… i was just wondering what the other red herrings are that churches get bogged down with. we’ve touched on sexuality a few times… but what other things distract us from loving our neighbour?
krislinatin… is that a dog in your photo… if so, what kind? looks kinda cute.
enjoy the pint robb… just had a couple, am back now. looking forward to having a beer with you and carole and dave and aaswabas and khs at greenbelt. anyone else joining us for a beer?
hahahahaha! nicely put botticelliwoman. very funny.
good times indeed robb. does that mean dissertating is done?
chrisf… yup that’s exactly what i meant.
oh yeh kristina… that’s one cool dog… and i bet she doesn’t shed fur either. not like our mutt… brilliant dog but creates one bunny sized fur ball a day.
History of Art. It’s probably one of the most useless subjects EVER but there you go. I do all contemporary theory, so there’s not much looking at pictures for me, all aesthetics and globalisation theory, consumerism etc. Sometimes I think I’m studying sociology…
I’ve been accepted onto a Masters course to study film but I’ll probably only do it if I get funding, not sure otherwise. Am waiting for God to point me in the right direction - I would love to do something involved with counselling but I’m not sure I could bear to start a degree again!
Robb, enjoy your free time! If I don’t get the degree class I need I’m going to blame it on BBC iPlayer and 4OD.
that’s cool hayley… i don’t think history of art is useless at all. being a bit of an art fan and being fascinated by the societies from which different individuals and schools of art grow out of i would love to chat about it. already, you see, i know you to be someone who’s interesting and interested… and that’s good. all the best with the revision… it’s cool to watch tv to relax… that’s what i do.
the crow… dark, moving and ultimately quite poignant i thought robb.
Who am I to talk. I once went to a seminar on “we as Christicans can’t condone the teaching of fashipon in our schools. Fashion is a pointeless subject that teaches people how to throw perfectly good things away.” I had to stand up and point out to all the well thought out accademics that their policy put me out of a job as an RE teacher. If you are saying that we should put people out of accademia because *we* deem it worthless then *we* have to be subject to the same process of voting. Secular society puts my degree, my job and my masters in the ‘useless’ category.
History of Art is as good as anything else!!
The Crow? I put it on after typing that message and then fell assleep before Brandon was in it other than in a photograph
In my experience free time is a fleeting experience. I’m sure that after one more day I will be snowed under with something else.
Don’t get me on my favourite hobby horse about education. I have a theory that the working classes are encouraged to undergo just enough education to work in a call centre. Just as in the days when we had real industry (not just a service industry on the verge of leaving the country) you got just enough education to work in a factory, down a mine, in the steelworks, whatever. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to study medieval French and Spanish and in my home town, too. They are of no practical use to me but they are deeply symbolic of being freed in the mind. If I come from a council estate on the edge of one of our big cities, why shouldn’t I study Byzantine Art, if that’s what I want to (and that is Single Honours Byzantine Art, not joint with Information effing Technology). It shouldn’t be hidden away in some cloistered Oxbridge college, well out of the reach of ‘Northern oiks’! Surely the study of the Arts enriches us as a nation?
There, rant over. Enjoy your degree, Hayley. It will probably be one of the most fulfilling things you ever do. So much better than Business Studies, though doubtless some will actually enjoy that, too.
Speaking as someone who comes from a mining family from a council estate, I wholeheartedly agree. However, many of the ‘Northern Oiks’ I teach have no idea how privilaged they are to have a free education. In many ways I would rather leave them to eat dung for dinner and give it to someone who would die for one.
Did you read the prayer on my Blog? That is a real one from a real pupil last week.
What winds me up most is school refusers - not the ones who don’t come to school and their parents pull their hair out. The ones who don’t come to school and their parents wont do anything about it. The ones who shout and swear at social workers “Why should I have to send my kid to school”.
Sorry, ‘you don’t have to go to school - I’ve bought you a playstation’ isn’t any good to a child who is malnourished, has no social skills and little life prospect. This sort of child abuse shouldn’t be happening in the UK!
I know what you mean, Robb. It seems that in places where, literally, you are on the bones of your backside, they appreciate education as a potential way out of their poverty.
We don’t do our kids any favours in the UK. I can’t get the concept of money through to my youngest. “I have to work ‘n’ hours in order for you to have whatever”, doesn’t register. Obviously I’ve cocked up somewhere along the way but nevertheless, that is tame. Where I live, I am 5 mins away from one of the more affluent districts in the country, home to numerous premiership football stars (please note, where I live is VERY modest by comparison). 10-15 mins in the opposite direction, we have the ward with the highest child poverty levels in the UK. There is also the highest proportion of single, schoolgirl mums there. These children are often seen with the latest, most expensive prams, but 9 times out of 10 the babies really don’t stand a chance. How could they, the poor things are apparently fatherless and mum is no more than a child herself, perhaps the product of an abusive family set up. My friend is a foster carer and tells me there is a huge shortage of foster carers in the area, which often leads to carers having to accommodate more children than they signed for. The stroppy school refuser and equally stroppy parents are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to society’s problems.
Tell me about it. But when you are doing your best to help people and all they can do is abuse you* it makes the milk of human kindness start to run out sometimes…
*In my experience of teaching this has been verbal, emotional and physical abuse BTW.
Old people don’t go to heaven. Old people must come back because of the mistakes they’ve made throughout their lives. It’s the children who have the opportunity to go to “heaven”.
spam and hell are synonymous in my view. my dad likes spam. maybe he’s a heretic. maybe that’s where i get it from.
the post i deleted was from a mail address f***yougod… not that i mind, but it was a very very very long post with no relevance to what was going on here. i decided not to encourage it. never done that before, i don’t like censoring.
Aren’t those red herrings aware of the church dress code?
Comment by Tamara — April 19, 2008 @ 10:34 am
Are you sure thier Herrings and not Man Utd supporters? (cryptic)
Comment by Slowburn — April 19, 2008 @ 10:47 am
All I’ve got in my head now is that song: ‘Sharkie and George, crime busters of the sea’
Anyone?
No?
Just me then.
Comment by Hayley — April 19, 2008 @ 10:58 am
and people without eyes in their heads
Comment by botticelliwoman — April 19, 2008 @ 10:59 am
foolish Galatians?
Comment by ben — April 19, 2008 @ 11:06 am
Why it has to be red?
Comment by Elyong — April 19, 2008 @ 11:35 am
I’ve just got out of me bath and you’re back to the smelly stuff again!!
Jesus to apostles: Look, I said I would make you fishers of MEN. You just can’t quit the old habits, can you?
The bloke in the yellow jumper lost his olfactory sense following an accident, presumably (he’s the only one smiling).
Church notices: Tea and coffee will be served after today’s service. Everyone is welcome. Help yourself to biscuits and plankton.
They all look very angry red herrings…
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
imagine what might happen if all those people talked to EACH OTHER instead…
Comment by maggi — April 19, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
overheard comment from one of the congregation (or was that codregation!!) - so long and thanks for all the people!
Comment by Dave — April 19, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
*starts singing SPAMALOT*
‘with traditional fish slapping song…. schlip,schlap…’
Comment by amywatson — April 19, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
Maggi!
I don’t know, but I think you hit it on the head. Imagine if people started talking to, or better, with each other instead of about or at each other?
Comment by flayedhypatia — April 19, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
Am also singing Sharky and George…..ah the nostalgia!!
Comment by Peta — April 19, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
They’re all debating the exact implications of what CS Lewis was meaning when he talked about the nature of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Comment by Robb — April 19, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
LOL! LOL!
Good one Jon!
Comment by Stephanie — April 19, 2008 @ 3:21 pm
I loved sharky and george too. They ‘clear up any mystery’.
Is this related to 441? http://asbojesus.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/redh.jpg
Comment by John Ferguson — April 19, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Hmmm sometimes I wonder if some are so afraid of being seen as fundamentalists that they label sharks as herrings…
Comment by DrNick — April 19, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
thanks for putting the fun back into fundamentalist Jon! dave
Comment by Dave — April 19, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
i dont get what the red herring thing means?
is it becuz i’m american?
is it like when people say there is a big elephant in the room and they mean they is something really obvious and awkward in the room that we are all ignoring?
thanks for the help
Kristina
Comment by krislinatin — April 19, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
Hi Kristina. A ‘red herring’ is something which throws you off the scent of what you are really looking for. It is most commonly used in connection with detective stories/whodunnits.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/red-herring.html
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
I’d firstly just like to make you all jealous by saying that I own a Sharky and George video. Oh yes.
I tend to find these red herrings crop up over seemingly innocent conversations over tea and coffee…
Comment by amywatson — April 19, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
People hated it when the herrings played the
pull my fin….(ger) game.
;]
Comment by k-h-s — April 19, 2008 @ 7:47 pm
……..and they should performing the Fish Slapping Dance at any moment…..
Comment by Mr. Nighttime — April 19, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Have the herrings been on the ‘Action Leaning’ course?
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
the herrings gave a lecture to each of the congregation about the danger of cod theology.
;]
Comment by k-h-s — April 19, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
Nah, k-h-s - They are waiting for a talk by guest speaker Richard Dawkins on the Cod Delusion…
It could just be a cod-spiracy theory…
This is bound to be popular so arrive early to ensure you get a plaice…
You might be advised to sit near the front if you are hard of herring…
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Perhaps they are prawn again Christians! Carole your humour meets my seal of approval! Nice to laugh as was feeling a bit of a wreck! nite nite! dave
Comment by Dave — April 19, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Nite, nite and God Bless, Dave…sweet dreams….
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
dear oh dear… asbo’s turned into ‘the waltons!’ “goodnight johnboy!”
Comment by jonbirch — April 19, 2008 @ 11:11 pm
Think about the guppies!
Comment by shelly — April 19, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
Er…shouldn’t that be Jonboy?
Comment by Carole — April 20, 2008 @ 10:52 am
I may be reading into your comic with my own experiences, but are you representing a church where people are adamant about shaking hands and saying “Good to see you!” or “It’s so good to have you!” but rarely get involved with you beyond those social conventions–in a sense, serving as red herrings when all we want sometimes is a nice handshake (hell, I’d take a hug or a kiss on the cheek) from someone whose toilet I’ve actually sat upon in the last few weeks?
Comment by Jason — April 20, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
…..Or a <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMKCLyhBBwI”fish slapping dance?
Comment by Robb — April 20, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Shouldn’t get distracted half way through my html….
…..Or a fish slapping dance?
Comment by Robb — April 20, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
That’s it, I’m off to the pub…
…or a fish slapping dance?
Comment by Robb — April 20, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
It’s OK Robb, don’t get yourself all worked up, we have mastered the art of cut and paste…but you wanted to go to the pub anyway, didn’t you?
Comment by Carole — April 20, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
@19 Carole. thanks for the kind explanation. there is always something to learn on this blog.
Comment by inge — April 20, 2008 @ 4:49 pm
It’s a pleasure, Inge.
Comment by Carole — April 20, 2008 @ 4:55 pm
In a church once I met a red herring
Who confessed he’d lost his berring
Now which way to turn?
One slip and I’ll burn!
Which way pleae to be more God-ferring?
Comment by Chris F — April 20, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
Hmmm…
… trouble is, once you’ve clicked, there’s no way back…
Comment by Chris F — April 20, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
Thank you Carole!
Comment by krislinatin — April 20, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
You’re welcome
Comment by Carole — April 20, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
in answer to jason (hi!) and others… i was just wondering what the other red herrings are that churches get bogged down with. we’ve touched on sexuality a few times… but what other things distract us from loving our neighbour?
krislinatin… is that a dog in your photo… if so, what kind? looks kinda cute.
enjoy the pint robb… just had a couple, am back now.
looking forward to having a beer with you and carole and dave and aaswabas and khs at greenbelt. anyone else joining us for a beer? 
Comment by jonbirch — April 20, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
Neighbour? I haven’t got time for neighbours, I’m far too busy at church/home group/music practice/etc
Comment by Chris F — April 20, 2008 @ 9:31 pm
In the end we watched all of the TV I have recorded whilst dissertating and drank some cans. Good times….
Comment by Robb — April 20, 2008 @ 11:20 pm
she is my pound puppy, we think she is a cocker spaniel/poodle mix a cockapoo.
here is the full size pic
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/398170529_3a92b9492c_o.jpg
She is the sweetest thing ever!
Kristina
Comment by krislinatin — April 21, 2008 @ 3:09 am
Raising funds to keep the building from falling down after God already vacated the premises.
Comment by botticelliwoman — April 21, 2008 @ 9:45 am
hahahahaha! nicely put botticelliwoman. very funny.
good times indeed robb. does that mean dissertating is done?
chrisf… yup that’s exactly what i meant.
oh yeh kristina… that’s one cool dog… and i bet she doesn’t shed fur either. not like our mutt… brilliant dog but creates one bunny sized fur ball a day.
Comment by jonbirch — April 21, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
Dissertating is sooooooo done!!!! Completely complete!!
Comment by Robb — April 21, 2008 @ 5:18 pm
woooooooooo hoooooooooo Rob!!!
Comment by Laura — April 22, 2008 @ 5:02 am
congratulations robb! good news!
Comment by jonbirch — April 22, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Cheers guys. Tonight I’m going to watch shallow hal. If the delivery I am expecting arrives early enough I may go for a ride on my bike.
I may surf the internet for a while. Maybe read a book or a magazine…..
Comment by Robb — April 22, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
I hand my dissertation in tomorrow, but then the revision begins…
Comment by Hayley — April 22, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
I can sympathise Hayley. But on the other hand let the good times roll. Where’s the keys to the harley? It just got warm!!
Comment by Robb — April 22, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
what’re y’studyin’ hayley?
Comment by jonbirch — April 22, 2008 @ 7:20 pm
That’s what I meant to ask!!
Now I’m watching The Crow. I could get used to this free time malarky!!
Comment by Robb — April 22, 2008 @ 9:12 pm
History of Art. It’s probably one of the most useless subjects EVER but there you go. I do all contemporary theory, so there’s not much looking at pictures for me, all aesthetics and globalisation theory, consumerism etc. Sometimes I think I’m studying sociology…
I’ve been accepted onto a Masters course to study film but I’ll probably only do it if I get funding, not sure otherwise. Am waiting for God to point me in the right direction - I would love to do something involved with counselling but I’m not sure I could bear to start a degree again!
Robb, enjoy your free time! If I don’t get the degree class I need I’m going to blame it on BBC iPlayer and 4OD.
xxxx
Comment by Hayley — April 22, 2008 @ 10:40 pm
that’s cool hayley… i don’t think history of art is useless at all. being a bit of an art fan and being fascinated by the societies from which different individuals and schools of art grow out of i would love to chat about it. already, you see, i know you to be someone who’s interesting and interested… and that’s good. all the best with the revision… it’s cool to watch tv to relax… that’s what i do.
the crow… dark, moving and ultimately quite poignant i thought robb.
Comment by jonbirch — April 22, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
Who am I to talk. I once went to a seminar on “we as Christicans can’t condone the teaching of fashipon in our schools. Fashion is a pointeless subject that teaches people how to throw perfectly good things away.” I had to stand up and point out to all the well thought out accademics that their policy put me out of a job as an RE teacher. If you are saying that we should put people out of accademia because *we* deem it worthless then *we* have to be subject to the same process of voting. Secular society puts my degree, my job and my masters in the ‘useless’ category.
History of Art is as good as anything else!!
The Crow? I put it on after typing that message and then fell assleep before Brandon was in it other than in a photograph
In my experience free time is a fleeting experience. I’m sure that after one more day I will be snowed under with something else.
Comment by Robb — April 23, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Don’t get me on my favourite hobby horse about education. I have a theory that the working classes are encouraged to undergo just enough education to work in a call centre. Just as in the days when we had real industry (not just a service industry on the verge of leaving the country) you got just enough education to work in a factory, down a mine, in the steelworks, whatever. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to study medieval French and Spanish and in my home town, too. They are of no practical use to me but they are deeply symbolic of being freed in the mind. If I come from a council estate on the edge of one of our big cities, why shouldn’t I study Byzantine Art, if that’s what I want to (and that is Single Honours Byzantine Art, not joint with Information effing Technology). It shouldn’t be hidden away in some cloistered Oxbridge college, well out of the reach of ‘Northern oiks’! Surely the study of the Arts enriches us as a nation?
There, rant over. Enjoy your degree, Hayley. It will probably be one of the most fulfilling things you ever do. So much better than Business Studies, though doubtless some will actually enjoy that, too.
Comment by Carole — April 23, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
Speaking as someone who comes from a mining family from a council estate, I wholeheartedly agree. However, many of the ‘Northern Oiks’ I teach have no idea how privilaged they are to have a free education. In many ways I would rather leave them to eat dung for dinner and give it to someone who would die for one.
Did you read the prayer on my Blog? That is a real one from a real pupil last week.
What winds me up most is school refusers - not the ones who don’t come to school and their parents pull their hair out. The ones who don’t come to school and their parents wont do anything about it. The ones who shout and swear at social workers “Why should I have to send my kid to school”.
Sorry, ‘you don’t have to go to school - I’ve bought you a playstation’ isn’t any good to a child who is malnourished, has no social skills and little life prospect. This sort of child abuse shouldn’t be happening in the UK!
Comment by Robb — April 23, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
I know what you mean, Robb. It seems that in places where, literally, you are on the bones of your backside, they appreciate education as a potential way out of their poverty.
We don’t do our kids any favours in the UK. I can’t get the concept of money through to my youngest. “I have to work ‘n’ hours in order for you to have whatever”, doesn’t register. Obviously I’ve cocked up somewhere along the way but nevertheless, that is tame. Where I live, I am 5 mins away from one of the more affluent districts in the country, home to numerous premiership football stars (please note, where I live is VERY modest by comparison). 10-15 mins in the opposite direction, we have the ward with the highest child poverty levels in the UK. There is also the highest proportion of single, schoolgirl mums there. These children are often seen with the latest, most expensive prams, but 9 times out of 10 the babies really don’t stand a chance. How could they, the poor things are apparently fatherless and mum is no more than a child herself, perhaps the product of an abusive family set up. My friend is a foster carer and tells me there is a huge shortage of foster carers in the area, which often leads to carers having to accommodate more children than they signed for. The stroppy school refuser and equally stroppy parents are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to society’s problems.
Comment by Carole — April 23, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Tell me about it. But when you are doing your best to help people and all they can do is abuse you* it makes the milk of human kindness start to run out sometimes…
*In my experience of teaching this has been verbal, emotional and physical abuse BTW.
Comment by Robb — April 23, 2008 @ 6:10 pm
Old people don’t go to heaven. Old people must come back because of the mistakes they’ve made throughout their lives. It’s the children who have the opportunity to go to “heaven”.
I must mention this to my dying Grandmother.
Comment by Robb — April 24, 2008 @ 8:37 am
i’m gonna get rid of comment 63… i think it’s spam.
Comment by jonbirch — April 24, 2008 @ 10:20 am
haha!
now your comment looks ridiculous robb! 
Comment by jonbirch — April 24, 2008 @ 10:24 am
Oh no. More public ridicule abounds
Why would someone choose to spam my grandparents into hell?
Comment by Robb — April 24, 2008 @ 10:35 am
spam and hell are synonymous in my view. my dad likes spam. maybe he’s a heretic. maybe that’s where i get it from.
the post i deleted was from a mail address f***yougod… not that i mind, but it was a very very very long post with no relevance to what was going on here. i decided not to encourage it. never done that before, i don’t like censoring.
Comment by jonbirch — April 24, 2008 @ 3:11 pm
But essentially you cut out a big ass post with giberish in it…
Comment by Robb — April 25, 2008 @ 12:00 am
put like that…
Comment by jonbirch — April 26, 2008 @ 12:02 am