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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
>It seems unlikely to me that Zild is the only place in the world to call them tortoiseshell.
from W3:
tortoiseshell (cat): a usually female domestic cat having a black, red, and cream or white blotched coat often with a white blaze on the face
calico: 3 : a blotched or spotted animal:
so, according to the prime USn dictionary, tortoiseshell is more specifically a cat than is calico.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
There are so many sites about "tortoise shell cats" that it must be well known
in US. But when I was small, "calico" was more common in New England. I learned
it from a poem by Edgar Guest, "The gingham dog and the calico cat".
I never heard "calico" applied to any animal other than a cat.
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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
In the UK we call them tortoiseshell cats. I would venture to say that we do not use the word calico in this adjectival sense, but only use it when referring to the material. But I am ready to be corrected.
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322 |
A propos of not much: One of my favourite childhood poems starts, "The gingham dog and calico cat/Side by side on the table sat". A ferocious battle ensues, and the poem ends, "They ate each other up".
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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In a post above I goofed and said poem was by Edgar Guest. It was Eugene Field. Here is URL: http://www.mtcc.com/~mom/calico.html
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
In reply to:
. I would venture to say that we do not use the word calico in this adjectival sense, but only use it when referring to the material. But I am ready to be corrected.
That's the norm up here, too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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My dictionary says "calico" can be an adjective, and gives "calico cat" as an example.
calico
n.,
pl. 3coes# or 3cos# 5after CALICUT, where it was first obtained6
1 orig., a cotton cloth from India
2 a) a printed cotton fabric b) [Brit.] a heavy, white cotton cloth
adj.
1 of calico
2 spotted like calico !a calico cat"
Dear sjm: What do you mean "up here" - you're way down there. I still remember vividly having it
explained to me at age four, by mother of the first girl I ever knew, that it did not make any sense
to talk about a top or bottom to the world. Which reminds me, I must now send an e-mail to that
girl, who lives three thousand mies away from me, in Florida. Over sixty years since I last saw her.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
In reply to:
Dear sjm: What do you mean "up here" ... I still remember vivdly having it explained to me at age four,... that it did not make any sense to talk about a top or bottom to the world.
Asked and answered, sehr geehrter Herr Doktor. 
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
I believe that Schrödinger's cat would be a male tortoiseshell if you looked and found it to be alive. But I'm in two minds about it.
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