On the artistic symmetry of cats
Jun. 3rd, 2007 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desperanceI've written 2000 words today, which I think is probably enough; so in a desperate attempt to stop working, I was just looking more closely at Mac's coat, to answer a question that has teased mildly at my mind a few times when I've been out of the house.
The answer is that no, he is not quite exactly symmetrical, in the patterns of his fur. He's a tabby, in dark shades of browny-grey (there's probably a proper word, but I don't know it; I'm not strong on visuals), and I'd like to call him a mackerel tabby, but I can't; I've seen cats with real fishbone patterns, and he doesn't have that. Though there is lots of stripy, there is also blotchy, kinda like camo. And where there is blotchy on one side, there is blotchy on the other; where there is stripy on one side, there is stripy on the other; and there is a midline to divide 'em. But the midline does not run quite exactly down his spine, and the two sides are not precisely mirror-images. It's like an artist's impression of symmetry, rather than the thing itself. I like this.
Also, for interest's sake: the word tabby comes via French tabis, and (apparently) from 'Attabiy, the district of Baghdad where tabby silk was made.
The answer is that no, he is not quite exactly symmetrical, in the patterns of his fur. He's a tabby, in dark shades of browny-grey (there's probably a proper word, but I don't know it; I'm not strong on visuals), and I'd like to call him a mackerel tabby, but I can't; I've seen cats with real fishbone patterns, and he doesn't have that. Though there is lots of stripy, there is also blotchy, kinda like camo. And where there is blotchy on one side, there is blotchy on the other; where there is stripy on one side, there is stripy on the other; and there is a midline to divide 'em. But the midline does not run quite exactly down his spine, and the two sides are not precisely mirror-images. It's like an artist's impression of symmetry, rather than the thing itself. I like this.
Also, for interest's sake: the word tabby comes via French tabis, and (apparently) from 'Attabiy, the district of Baghdad where tabby silk was made.