Barking Up the Wrong Tree

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Meaning:

Barking Up the Wrong Tree means Making a mistake or a false assumption about something, to pursuing the wrong course of action

“Um, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Origin:

This phrase started out due to dogs barking up into the trees when they believe they have chased a prey up a tree, like a squirrel, but the squirrel escaped by leaping from one tree to another. The dog does not know the squirrel is not there, so he keeps barking.

The first time this phrase was printed was in James Kirke Paulding's Westward Ho!, 1832 it reads:

"Here he made a note in his book, and I begun to smoke him for one of those fellows that drive a sort of a trade of making books about old Kentuck and the western country: so I thought I'd set him barking up the wrong tree a little, and I told him some stories that were enough to set the Mississippi a-fire; but he put them all down in his book."

Example:

Today we still use the phrase barking up the wrong tree to say “hey, you’re not right.” Or “your assumption is wrong.” or “you might be a bit confused.” An example sentence is:

“Paul tried to ask me out on a date, but I had to tell him, he was barking up the wrong tree.”

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