 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2006Questions on fur design
My cat is black and white. 1. Is "black and white" an idiomatic phrase? In other words, if she were 80% white, would she still be "black and white"? 2. Is it correct to say she has a checkered fur, even though the geometry is not exactly shaped like a chess board? Those questions were inspired by the recent ban on adopting black cats around Halloween; although my cat's nose is all black, together with a big portion of her fur, she will not qualify for the ban if she were a cat or-feline. > My cat is black and white. > > 1. Is "black and white" an idiomatic phrase? In other words, if > she were 80% white, would she still be "black and white"? She would probably be white and black. On the same principle that some days are partly cloudy (mostly sunny) and others are mostly cloudy. > 2. Is it correct to say she has a checkered fur, even though the > geometry is not exactly shaped like a chess board? Not really, according to my style book. > Those questions were inspired by the recent ban on adopting > black cats around Halloween; although my cat's nose is all > black, together with a big portion of her fur, she will not > qualify for the ban if she were a cat or-feline. You just said she were a cat, so how can you now say that she be not a cat?  SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." >> My cat is black and white. >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Not really, according to my style book. Nor mine. I suppose the correct term, if the design is irregular, would be "piebald", but it sounds peculiar applied to a cat. Two-tone cats come in two types in my experience. One is basically black with a white bib, white socks and perhaps a white tail tip -- like Sylvester, in other words. The other is messier, more white than black, and would probably be best described as "splotchy". -- THE "If you or I use a word inappropriately, that's an error. If a newspaper uses a word inappropriately, that's a citation source for the dictionaries." -- Peter Moylan >My cat is black and white. > >1. Is "black and white" an idiomatic phrase? In other words, if she >were 80% white, would she still be "black and white"? I'd say "yes". The normal order of the phrase is "black and white", and the statement is correct even if the cat is 80% white. It's not wrong to order the colors either way, though. >2. Is it correct to say she has a checkered fur, even though the >geometry is not exactly shaped like a chess board? That would sound odd to me. I'd look for square corners in the coloring. >Those questions were inspired by the recent ban on adopting black cats >around Halloween; although my cat's nose is all black, together with a >big portion of her fur, she will not qualify >for the ban if she were a cat or-feline. Your cat would not qualify if she were a cat or-feline? Where to begin? SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL > >My cat is black and white. > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > and the statement is correct even if the cat is 80% white. It's not > wrong to order the colors either way, though. I thought so, I've never heard "white and black" in English. > >2. Is it correct to say she has a checkered fur, even though the > >geometry is not exactly shaped like a chess board? > > That would sound odd to me. I'd look for square corners in the > coloring. Then what do you call that particular design? Is there a name for it, or you just describe it? > >Those questions were inspired by the recent ban on adopting black cats > >around Halloween; although my cat's nose is all black, together with a [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Your cat would not qualify if she were a cat or-feline? Where to > begin? That was an uninspired pun: orpheline > > >My cat is black and white. > > > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Then what do you call that particular design? Is there a name for it, > or you just describe it? ------------------ You could say she is white with black patches, or black with white patches. If she's a black cat with a white chest (with or without white "socks") she may be called a "Tuxedo cat." DianeE > You could say she is white with black patches, or black with white patches. > If she's a black cat with a white chest (with or without white "socks") she > may be called a "Tuxedo cat." Yes, thank you. I also learned she is a Jellicle cat, thanks to Tony Cooper most informative address. Now I can see that commercial for "multiple cats" litter in a different light: a pastiche of the famous song. >> >My cat is black and white. >> > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >Then what do you call that particular design? Is there a name for it, >or you just describe it? Pick a term from this page: http://www.fanciers.com/other-faqs/colors.html#white_markings SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL > >> >My cat is black and white. > >> > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > Pick a term from this page: > http://www.fanciers.com/other-faqs/colors.html#white_markings Thank you very much. Here is the famous Song of the Jellicles http://www.spectrum.uni-bielefeld.de/Classes/Summer97/SemGS/WebLex/OldPossum/old possumlex/node6.html > > >My cat is black and white. > > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > I thought so, I've never heard "white and black" in English. An odd bias we all share, I wonder why? > > > >My cat is black and white. > > > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > An odd bias we all share, I wonder why? I can think of three or two reasons. SignatureLieblich Bob Ten inches, five feet tall > > "Arcadian Rises" <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote in message > > > I've never heard "white and black" in English. > > > > An odd bias we all share, I wonder why? "We", the speakers of English. > I can think of three or two reasons. Care to share them? I cannot think of any reason why black & white, but "blanc et noir" or "bianco e nero". That's one of those instances where logics and semantics part company. > -- > Lieblich Bob > Ten inches, five feet tall Unlike the previous example ( "three to two reasons") this one makes more sense: you start with the smaller; perhaps in certain languages is even the right way to state the heigh. I still have problems with "ten minutes to eight", I have to utter the word "minutes", otherwise I get confused if I hear "ten to eight". And the American way to state the date is another story. By the time I get used to say the month first (and to kiss only one cheeck), some applications started to go "normal", while the social kissers want to go European. >> > "Arcadian Rises" <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote in message >> > > I've never heard "white and black" in English. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > but "blanc et noir" or "bianco e nero". That's one of those instances > where logics and semantics part company. /b/ comes first? Another interesting point is, for me, at least: red and blue red and white blue and white but red, white, and blue Pairwise, my order seems to be something like silver brown red black orange green blue yellow white gray although I'm not sure I'd come up with the same list if I did it again. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |Never ascribe to malice that which 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |can adequately be explained by Palo Alto, CA 94304 |stupidity. kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ > > I thought so, I've never heard "white and black" in English. > An odd bias we all share, I wonder why? And I wonder why you put a question mark at the end of a declarative question. -- Stefano "No matter where you go, there you are. But your luggage is in Pocatello, Idaho." > > I thought so, I've never heard "white and black" in English. > An odd bias we all share, I wonder why? And I wonder why you put a question mark at the end of a declarative statement. -- Stefano "No matter where you go, there you are. But your luggage is in Pocatello, Idaho." |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.