[Sca-cooks] OT - - What do you call?

[BaronessaIlaria at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/12/2002 6:28:05 PM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
writes:

> I think "tabby" is the term you're looking for. My dictionary says that
while tabby is applied to cats in general, it is especially applicable to
females.

Tabby usually describes the markings - stripes generally but sometimes whorls
on the sides. The whorls are more common in American Shorthairs. (Catshow
talk for high faultin' barn cats...)  Legend has it that tabbies - male and
female - have M shaped markings on their foreheads because a tabby got into
the manger with the baby Jesus and purred to sooth him. Mary touched the cat
on that spot on since that day, tabbies bear the M as a mark of her favor.

Ilaria