Job Discussion Forums

[Bogazicibaby]

ok, I liked reading about the cats in the other post and since someone suggested someone make a post, I'm doing it.

I brought my cornish rex cat with me from the States when I came to Turkey. Sadly, he has since died from congestive heart failure and I am on my 3rd and 4th street cats.

My husband is from the Black Sea Region and in our house, we call our cats "sipsi" rather than "pisi pisi". Most people want to know what sipsi means and think that the cat's name is sipsi. Not everyone from the Black Sea Region uses this term, but many do. The only thing I've found in the dictionaries is a translation to mean "boatswain's whistle", but my husband assures me that this is indeed the right word to use for cat. I would wonder if he gets this word from old Greek, which is still spoken in his village, except he tells me the Greek word that they use is either Kada or Tungurlari. Tunurlari telege might not be a name for a cat, but is one that is used to show affection for the cat. Hubbies mother yells this at all the cats she sees. She came to my house and yelled this at my cat and caused her to run and hide behind the bed for the duration of her visit.

I like the use of sipsi much better than the other one because I think pisi pisi sounds like .........well..........I'm sure you get it.

[whynotme]

i know some meanings of sipsi but never heard anyone calling a cat "sipsi"

sipsi is a wooden intrument like a wistle and had a great importance in Turkish folk music especially in Eagean parts of Turkey

the other meaning i know is the top part of a hubble-buble usually made of marble but these days they are made of plastic....it is given to every individual nargile smoker...

some people call cigarettes "sipsi" like fags...

[whynotme]

oh censor

beep= f_a_g_s

[ImanH]

Great topic bogazici baby.
We brought our Persian with us from the UK. She had a whole row of seats to herself on the plane but then didn't come out from behind the fridge for a day or two.
We also have two street cats; one who was almost dead when he came to us, but is now fit enough to nick men's shaving brushes.
The Persian is rather beautiful and gets lots of attention.
People frequently ask us what language she speaks

[whynotme]

ImanH,
i ve never had a persian cat....4 of my 5 cats (ever had) were street cats and they were really great fighters and hunters+they had no adaptation problems...but Billinton who is an Angora cat ( rare as a pure breed ) was a monster had problems with everybody including the other cats on the street ....reaaly moody....but i miss him so much...we had to give it to a friend while my wife was pregnant and now he is so happy because at home there is female angora cat..... do u know a Turkish Angora cat? no no not a Van cat ...they look similar but they are not... anyway just a web site 4 u about Turkish Angora cats http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/turkish-angora.html
and Turkish Van cat
http://www.vantasia.org/turks.html

[whynotme]

one more thing

billy is quarter van cat

[ImanH]

Aah - that explains why I see so many cats with a tail like that. I never realised Angoras were a special breed that referred specifically to that. Very beautiful. I'd heard about the Van cats - two different eye colours right? Does Billy have two different coloured eyes?
This is our Persian - after a bird.

[whynotme]

different coloured eyes...
well some people say real Van cats do not have two coloured eyes and have a bit of a yellow hair on the head or the tail...do you know most of them having two coloured eyes are deaf or lets say the ones with blue eyes are all deaf....
Billy's father had blue eyes and was deaf but the mother had green....Billinton got the eyes from the mother but hair from the father....
he also had a problem with his eyes....he couldnt see very well.......u know most special breed animals have problems like that.....

[mongrelcat]

i'm bringing my cat, and she is white with a blue eye and a green eye. I've heard before that this is a Van cat, but every Van i've seen has buff on the tail and the head. And not necessarily two different eyes.

Anyway, the Chinese believe these are Good Luck!!

[Bogazicibaby]

If you look at the Van cats in Turkey, you will mostly see all white cats with different colored eyes. I've seen some with the same colored eyes.

The cats in England and the United States do mostly have the tail and head markings.

I've always thought that these cats were beautiful, although my favorites are the siamese cats with the big apple heads. I had some Cornish Rex cats for a while and really loved them too.

Mongrelcat- Be careful when you go through security with your cat. I had to take my cat out of the carrier so that they could send the carrier through the x-ray machine. My poor Zeus was so scared that I almost lost hold of him. That really would have been a disaster!! Then on top of holding the cat, the security people wanted me to step aside so that we could go check my laptop. I had to ask them to wait so that I could secure the cat before he went running. I had huge scratch marks because he was so frightened.

[dmb]

Imanh, I'm asking for your technical know how. How did you put a photograph on your post? I'd love to show you my cats. they are so cute

[ImanH]

Hi dmb.
That's another beer I owe you for giving me a legitimate reason to avoid work!
It's fairly straightforward.
The images need to be hosted somewhere on the net, so if you've not already done so get an account like photobucket and upload onto there.
http://photobucket.com/
Once the images are loaded, if you look above the box where you type when posting there are a load of buttons for making text bold, quoting, etc.
There is one which says Img. Click on that and then enter the url for where the photo is held (in the same way as for your avatar). Click Img to enter and hey presto.
Can't wait to see the cats.

[dmb]

cheers Imanh. When I get home tonight I will try to do(after Eastenders of course)

[ImanH]

Pleasure.
Just in case someone doesn't know how to find the url for an image (and this also applies to avatars)
1) find an image you want to use
2) right-click on it
3) select properties on the box that pops up
4) copy the url web address listed in the next box that pops up
5) add as above if for an image in a post or in the box right at the bottom of your profile for an avatar

(you'd think I knew what I was talking about really, but it seems to work)

[Bogazicibaby]

Iman,

Those are some great looking cats. Who's the handsome tabby with an attitude?