# What does a "tabby" cat mean to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099 "2009-03-20T00:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/81 "2009-03-23T20:28:51Z")
My favorite color in the world is a calico-tabby. Seen [http://thecatsite.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gigi.jpg](http://thecatsite.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/gigi.jpg) Here and [http://www.forestcats.net/Tillyflueflangeradoption.jpg](http://www.forestcats.net/Tillyflueflangeradoption.jpg) here. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/82 "2009-03-24T05:28:30Z")
Are you folks using “tuxedo cat” to refer to any black-and-white cat? My Kali is black-and-white, but I wouldn’t call her a tuxedo cat: to me that refers only to the black “cape” with white chest. Kali’s more half-and-half. My other cat, Windy (I didn’t name her), is a beautiful tawny color with some tabby markings. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/83 "2009-03-24T12:52:07Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Are you folks using “tuxedo cat” to refer to any black-and-white cat? My Kali is black-and-white, but I wouldn’t call her a tuxedo cat: to me that refers only to the black “cape” with white chest. Kali’s more half-and-half. I just use it for the ones who really look like they’re wearing white tie and tail(s). [This](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/ichabod0002.jpg) is the late, great Ichabod, and what I mean by tuxedo. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/84 "2009-03-24T12:53:47Z")
> [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](#): > > My favorite color in the world is a calico-tabby. I’ve heard those called “torbies”. My Luna is a torbie and a Siamese mix, so she has beautiful china-blue eyes as well as torbie coloring. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/85 "2009-03-24T19:28:02Z")
Woah, I live in northern Idaho, I have never heard “tabby” in reference to anything other than an orange cat with darker orange stripes. Weird, I had no idea it meant the pattern on the cat, though, that does make more sense. :smack: I always wondered why people didn’t just say “orange cat.” ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/86 "2009-03-24T20:15:07Z")
Here’s my beloved [Oops](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34655299@N07/3382454017/), sadly no longer with us. Here’s our wee new girl,[Lily](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34655299@N07/3382454385/), [getting along with the dog](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34655299@N07/3219482217/) and [failing to charm our other cat, Jake](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34655299@N07/3382454451/). I’ve always had brown and gray tabbies before now. I’m still baffled by having a little blond around the house ([although she goes so well with Otto, our other blond](http://www.flickr.com/photos/34655299@N07/3382454101/)). ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/87 "2009-03-25T06:50:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Oh, and I have an [orange female](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/buffychair.jpg). (1 in 400, I was told.) Buffy is Gypsy’s sister. I fostered a litter of kittens last year. Three orange kittens of various kinds and one tortoiseshell. I just assumed that the tortoiseshell was a female and the others were males and never bothered to check. I felt like a dill when they went in for desexing and the whole lot were female! ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/88 "2009-03-25T07:03:46Z")
Tabby is an archaic term for old woman, probably developed by association of an woman living alone with her cat. tab⋅by 1   /ˈtæbi/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [tab-ee] Show IPA noun, plural -bies, adjective, verb, -bied, -by⋅ing. –noun 1. a cat with a striped or brindled coat. 2. a domestic cat, esp. a female one. 3. a spinster. 4. a spiteful female gossip or tattler. 5. plain weave. 6. a watered silk fabric, or any other watered material, as moreen. –adjective 7. striped or brindled. 8. made of or resembling tabby. –verb (used with object) 9. to give a wavy or watered appearance to, as silk. Origin: 1630–40; back formation from F tabis (taken as pl.), MF (a)tabis silk cloth \< ML attābi \< Ar ʿattābī, deriv. of (al-)ʿAttābīyah, quarter of Baghdad where the silk was first made, lit., the quarter of (Prince) ʿAttāb ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/89 "2009-04-03T06:37:51Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Huh. I’ve lived with two female marmalades, at the same time. One had black freckles on her lips, but I don’t think that makes her a calico. The other one isn’t very small. Wait, do you mean female tabbies without white spotting are rare? Because both of them have/had spots on the face & underside. Is white spotting X-linked? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/90 "2009-04-03T08:40:53Z")
To me it means a striped cat. Either grey or orange, incidentally, I have an orange female that is the cuddliest sweetest creature ever. I’ve only had her for a bit over three years, maybe three and a half, and she’s my first cat, so I didn’t know anything about them when I first got her. I did read somewhere that orange tabbies tend to have really sweet dispositions, but again, being somewhat of a cat newbie, I don’t know if that’s true. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/91 "2009-04-03T17:21:35Z")
Stripey cat, orange, gray or brown. I have two of the three, plus a calico girl with tabby-stripes in her orange patches. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/92 "2009-04-03T17:32:00Z")
Since this seems to have turned into a picture thread, here are [my three](http://www.flickr.com/photos/troubleagain/2751959742/in/set-72157602651317786/). The calico and the orange tabby are littermates–sister/brother. The brown tabby (boy) is a few years younger. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/93 "2009-04-03T23:43:58Z")
[Gracie May.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/62391049@N00/128153126/) ---
**Author:** ![inschos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b77776/32.png) [@inschos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inschos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/94 "2009-04-05T01:44:16Z")
I have 2 cats, both of which I have concidered to be tabbies: striped, m on forehead, etc. One is fat, lazy and grey (also a cuddler). The other is very orange, no white, just different shades of orange. She is tiny and kind of flaky (flops around alot). I never knew she was rare, kind of interesting. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/95 "2009-04-05T03:36:21Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > This is a straight up poll. Story to come at 11. 😃 Did not read any posts… but as the owner of my 5th & 6th tabbies (I was hooked from Mr. Blueberry Muffin that was my first tabby cat when I was six) , it’s a cat with stripes. It’s a color, not a breed. I’ve had them long haired and short- but the stripes have always indicated the best kitty personalities. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/96 "2009-04-05T03:55:47Z")
OK. I have to ask… What is the evolutionary advantage of having that “M” on the forehead? Were these cats prone to getting attacked on Sesame Street all season until they developed some sort of alphabetic camouflage? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/97 "2009-04-05T03:58:57Z")
Whoops…forgot pictures Cutest kitten on earth… #5 tabby Milton…[http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a391/Smokinjbc/Jane/Milton.jpg](http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a391/Smokinjbc/Jane/Milton.jpg) I’ll try to get one of him and tabby #6, La Petit Kitty Claire (it’s a fat girl’s name!) cuddled on the bed for maximum tabby cat awesomeness. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/98 "2009-04-05T17:58:54Z")
Tabbies are the best cats of all! They’re closest to cats in the wild, smart and instinctual, especially compared to the dumb-as-a-stump Persians my ex- used to insist on breeding. I have 2 tabbies right now, one with bulls-eyes on her sides (a fashion faux-pas that makes her appear especially fat), and a spotty type male. He’s an incorrigible **fetch-cat**! The vet said he’d grow out of it after a year of age, but he’s about 4 now and still prefers to fetch over eating or sleeping. He requires no coaching at all, he simply scrambles at top speed to grab the thrown toy, and returns it immediately. I’ve trained him to drop it in a coffee can next to me, so that I don’t have to get up to pick it up and throw it again for him. He’s amazingly good at amusing himself and there are fetch-toys all over the house. It’s cute when he brings his toy to our other cat and drops it for her as an offering. She has no clue what she’s supposed to do with it. He’s got one toy that is his pretend-baby. When he carries it around he makes that mother-cat meow which females do to gather up the little-uns. As far as I can tell, he’s part-dog. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/99 "2009-04-06T01:29:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Whereas calico(e)s are always female, yes? Are the genes for coat color coded onto the sex chromosomes in some weird way? This actually applies to any house cat with 3 colors, not just the pattern called calico. Any 3 colors and they are almost always female. Males usually are only 1 or 2 colors. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099/100 "2009-04-06T18:58:21Z")
Oh, and here’s my Gypsy: [Gypsy 1](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/gypsy1.jpg) [Gypsy 2](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/gypsy2.jpg) [Gypsy 3](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/gypsy3.jpg) Oh, and [here](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/gypsysteelers2.jpg) you can see she’s also a HUGE Steelers fan, as are [Buffy](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/buffysteelers1.jpg) and [Maggie](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Kitties/maggiesteelers2.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-tabby-cat-mean-to-you/490099.md?page=6)