The British have some 'splainin' to do. Why is "ginger" a synonym for red hair or orange cats?

[Arugula Latte]

Ginger's not really orange or red now, is it? It's sort of tannish on the outside and creamish in the middle.

What say you, Brits? This is keeping me up at night.

[Bossy Monkey]

1. Thanks for bringing it up; always wondered the same thing

particularly with regard to a minor character in "Smiley's People" by John Le Carre referred to as The Ginger Pig. I just assumed he was blond as ginger is if anything yellow. But I Google Imaged ginger hair the other day and learned otherwise. Should have been guided by Ginger on "Gilligan's Island" all along, I guess.

[Arugula Latte]

2. It's a major issue of our time. Why isn't Obama speaking about it?!

:o

He'd better bring it up with Gordon Brown or else I'm DONE with Obama.

[ThomCat]

3. Really good question, actually.

:shrug:

[FunkyLeprechaun]

4. Ginger is also a slight insult

Towards redheads in most of the comedies I see. I think it's just to make fun of them, and I do get called Ginger as I have red hair by my British friends poking fun at me.

I don't understand it either.

[Tikki]

5. Maybe it's more about the taste...then the color.....n/t

[flvegan]

6. I believe it's a derogatory remark.

[Arugula Latte]

7. But ginger is DELICIOUS!

It adds zest to any dish.

Okay, now the Brits have MORE 'splainin' to do. Why do they hate ginger?

[DemBones DemBones]

22. I don't think the Brits hate ginger. My English

granny always kept candied ginger around. Yum.

[Richard Steele]

31. Not in my book. Ginger ladies make the blood leave my brain. nm

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Let's get 'em!

(torches/pitchforks)

[Arugula Latte]

18. It's also gonna be payback for the Spice Girls, too!

:grr:

[Gormy Cuss]

9. And why are tiger cats called "mackerel tabbys" instead of tigers?

Me TIGER, not smelly fish.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Yeah -- What's the deal with that?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Your tabby is a dead ringer for my tabby --

including the little white spot on his throat. If the third toe on your cat's left front paw is white, I have his doppelganger.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Alas, not my tabby.

He's the one on the wiki page. Maybe your tabby had a modeling career.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. If he's got a job on the side, maybe I should ask him to pay for room and board.

[grasswire]

32. a mackerel tabby is a certain kind of marking

Here is part of a page on tabby markings from wikipedia, and it's extremely interesting!

Descriptions

There are four tabby patterns that have been shown to be genetically distinct: mackerel, classic, spotted and ticked.<1><6> A fifth includes tabby as part of another basic color pattern, the "patched" tabby, which may be a calico or tortoiseshell cat with tabby patches (the latter is called a "torbie").<1> A number of other variations are due to the interaction between domestic cat and wildcat genes in breeds such as the Bengal and can now be seen in the Bombay.


The mackerel tabby pattern has vertical, gently curving stripes on the side of the body. The stripes are narrow, and may be continuous or broken into bars and spots on the flanks and stomach. Often, an 'M' shape appears on the forehead. Mackerels also feature a 'peppered' nose, where black spots appear along the pink tip of the nose. Mackerels are also called 'fishbone tabbies'. Mackerel is the most common tabby pattern.

Classic (or 'blotched') tabbies have a similar 'M' pattern on the head, but the body markings are different, having a whirled and swirled pattern with wider stripes that make what are referred to as "butterfly" patterns on their shoulders, and usually a bullseye or oyster pattern on the flank. The legs and tail are more heavily barred and the pattern is variable with respect to the width of the bands.

The ticked tabby pattern produces hairs with distinct bands of color on them, breaking up the tabby patterning into an salt-and-pepper appearance. Residual ghost striping or "barring" can often be seen on the lower legs, face and belly and sometimes at the tail tip.


Classic tabby, showing the bullseye pattern

The spotted tabby may not be a true pattern, but a modifier that breaks up the mackerel pattern so that the stripes appear as spots; the stripes of the classic pattern may be broken into larger spots. Both large spot and small spot patterns can be seen in the Australian Mist, Bengal, Egyptian Mau, and Ocicat breeds.


Spotted tabby pattern on an Ocicat.All those patterns have been observed in random bred populations. Several additional patterns are found in specific breeds. A modified classic tabby is found in the Sokoke breed. Some are due to the interaction of wild and domestic genes. Rosetted and marbled patterns are found in the Bengal breed.

The tabby is not a breed of cat, nor is it a coat color. It's simply a coat pattern. It can show up in combination with a variety of coat colors. A cat's coat can be described as red tabby or gray tabby. Black and blue are colors that usually show up without tabby markings, but with some cats, a faint tabby pattern can actually be noticed. White is the only color that does not have any tabby markings.

Bi-colors can have the tabby pattern show up on the colored patches of their coat. Tortoiseshell cats sometimes display a pattern where the three-colored tortoiseshell pattern is mixed with tabby markings.<1> These cats are known as "torbies".

The most commonly identified kind of tabby, the Classic Tabby, tends to have a pattern of dark browns, ochres, and black. The uniform or nearly uniform striping around the circumference of the tail indicates feral origins in that particular cat's family tree.

The Silver Tabby, as it is often known, is a distinctive white/black tabby often in a mackerel or blotched pattern.<7> The steel-white of the fur is what gives it its name.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_cat

[grasswire]

33. I wish I could enlarge that chart

If anyone can, I'd be much obliged.

[Jamastiene]

34. Here:

[grasswire]

37. thanks!

Not too many of those examples show a ring tail, but I see a lot of ring tail orange tabbies.

[Gormy Cuss]

36. Thanks. I was joking, except about the tiger part.

Nearly everyone I know calls a mackerel tabby cat a tiger.

That Wiki chart shows a lot more tabby pattern variety than I've ever seen.

[crimsonblue]

10. If you have to ask, then you're probably a ginger.

Gingers cannot be trusted.

[Arugula Latte]

12. Only because my hair dye made me too "brassy."

:cry:

[crimsonblue]

14. you're not a ginger then

Gingers are marked by pale skin, an infestation of freckles, and orphan annie red hair.

[Arugula Latte]

15. I've got sort of olive skin.

Of course, living in Oregon, I'm not exactly browning up. :)

[crimsonblue]

17. yeah, gingers don't have skin color...

they're mostly translucent, and their utter hatred for the sun makes them look like that kid from Powder.

[graywarrior]

20. Why do Nova Scotians call redheads cranberry?

[Arugula Latte]

21. They do?

That's it. We're invading.

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. Why does the rest of the world call Nova Scotians "sodomites"?

:rofl:

No, seriously, just kidding.

I always think of that South Park episode when the kids go to rescue Ike when I think Nova Scotia.

[trof]

23. "He was a ginger haired man."

My Brit friend says that.
I'll have to ask him.

[NashVegas]

24. Cause Redheads Are So Spicey!

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Fried ginger is pretty orange, though

Before and after pictures: http://wokkingmum.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-slice-really-thin-ginger.html

[Arugula Latte]

29. Hmmm ... Okay. That DOES look orangish.

I had no idea people fried ginger and ate it like that. Huh. You learn something every day.

Thanks. :hi:

[GCP]

27. Ginger is also Cockney rhyming slang for gay

Ginger beer - queer.

[luv_mykatz]

28. Hmmm.

I think the comment about how redheads are perceived as 'spicy' must be where the connection is. Most people have heard the phrase about how someone who is low on energy needs to be "gingered up". I agree that the color thing is off. I tend to think of redheads as having hair that is cinnamon-colored, not ginger-colored. I tend to think of blonds as having ginger colored hair because candied ginger is deep yellow.

[Whoa_Nelly]

30. Redhead Redhead Gingerbreadhead!

[Jamastiene]

35. You learn something new every day...

I guess that is true. I never knew that "ginger" was an insult. I always called my Thommy a "ginger tabby." I never knew I was insulting him. :(

[mike_c]

38. this might help answer the original question....

[harmonicon]

39. I don't know, but I do know a certain ginger-haired English girl has my heart in a vice

Damn her, being exactly everything I ever wanted.