昨天的题目有点儿怪，“熏鱼”是怎么来的？从丘吉尔那儿捡来的。

Richard Langworth编选的《丘吉尔语录》（Churchill by Himself, theDefinitive Collection of Quotations, Publicaffairs, 2008）附录了80多条爵爷从没说过的“语录”：Churchillis persistently credited with numerous remarks he never uttered, put in his mouthto make them more interesting. 当然，爵爷有时引用别人的话而没加“引号”，也容易被听众误会是他说的。这些假语录被编排在Red Herrings的标题下面。

Red Herring是熏（鲱）鱼。鲱鱼熏过以后会变成红色，而且有怪味儿。过去猎人用它来引诱猎犬，分散其注意力。如果猎犬能抵御熏鱼味找到狐狸，就及格了。于是，red herring有了引申的意思：to attempt to divert attention from the real question; hence redherring, a subject intended to have this effect（OED）。可是，这个意思与假冒（或误会）语录的出处，似乎没什么关系——因为它们本来不是为了分散听众或读者的注意，也不是想扰乱视听。

不管怎么说，名人的语录有时像兴奋剂，令听众或读者顿生同情的激动。BalzEngler在《经典犹如公共符号》（The Classic as a Public Symbol）里说，闻听引用的句子，令听众找到归属：要么感觉自己和说话人是一家的，要么感觉自己被驱逐在外了。（Recognizing the reference makes us take sides: We either feel ourselves to belong to the same community as those who have made it, or we feel excluded.）Bernard Darwin（进化论达翁的孙子）在《牛津引语词典》第一版（1941）引言里讲了一个激动人心的场面，说的是丘吉尔1941年4月27日的广播讲话：

Thousands of listeners to that broadcast speech must have experienced the same series of emotions. When the Prime Minister said that there were some lines that he deemed appropriate we sat up rigid, waitingin mingled pleasure and apprehension. How agreeable it would be if we were acquainted with them and approved the choice! How flat and disappointing should they be unknown to us! A moment later we heard ‘For though the tired waves, vainly breaking’and sank back in a pleasant agony of relief. We whispered the lines affectionately to ourselves, following the speaker, or even kept a word or two ahead of him in order to show our familiarity with the text. We were if possible more sure than ever that Mr Churchill was the man for our money. He had given his ultimate proofs by flattering our vanity. He had chosen what we knew and what, if we had thought of it, we could have quoted ourselves. This innocent vanity often helps us over the hard places in life; it gives us a warm little glow against the coldness of the world and keeps us snug and happy. It certainly does its full share in the matter of quotations.

小达的这段话，最生动地说明了“引语”在特殊场合的力量。我加黑的两句，也就是Engler所说的recognizingthe reference，要找到那种感觉，听众当然应该对“for though the tired waves…”有同情的理解。