I heard there is no such thing as a black cat, it is a very dark, dark brown. Is this true?

[deecee]

I am having a discussion with my husband about this and when I went to prove it to him by going online, there isn't anything about it. Just about bad luck for black cats.

I was told by a friend that black isn't a color of the cat. It's a very dark brown that just looks black.

I think this to be true. My husband doesn't. What is your opinion.

 

[Draco]

Hi and welcome to TCS!!

There's a thread started recently about this..

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/256450/when-black-cat-is-black-and-not-very-dark-brown

take a peek.. and join the chat there too. I think there's lots of awesome replies

 

[jcat]

to TCS!

We currently have a thread with photos about this very question: When black cat is black and not very dark brown?
As one of our more knowledgeable members says, the color of the nose leather and pads is the key:

Coats vary, but there are three basic colours black, chocolate and cinnamon and he is clearly not chocolate or cinnamon. He has black nose leather and pads as well.

ETA: Draco beat me to it!

 

[maewkaew]

I have heard that as well in a biology class. Unfortunately I don't remember the details... something about biology and vision and color. LOL. I'm sorry, that wasn't much help. and so far as I recall, it's not just domestic cats. it is other mammals. but I guess it's a matter of semantics. If it is so very very very dark brown that it looks black to the human eye, then it makes sense we call it black. ( but quite often in bright sunlight, one sees that a black cat coat does have reddish/ brownish tone)

 

[orientalslave]

First you have to define what black is - and that's not as easy as it sounds!  Then you have to decide if all black cats are the same colour, and in my view they are not.

Most non-pedigree black cats will look slightly brown in bright sunlight, and black cats that sunbath often get slightly bleached and gingery. 

However I think you two should agree to differ on this, though you might like to point out that there are lots of different shades of black on cars.

 

[jtbo]

Think about Coca-Cola or Pepsi, we call them black, but they are kind of brown in bright light, even foam/bubbles of those is brown, but drink most of the time does look black.

Car tires are often called black, even those are just dark grey.

So indeed when saying something being black, one does need to define some range for which colors will be included in black as in natural world there are no absolutes, there is always some variation, black in cats seems to be something that has been agreed upon, there are definitions which make black to be black, as can be read from other thread, despite which one's personal view is, such definition is perhaps best route to go with as it is kind of common term. Only reason for such definition is of course to make communications easier and for that reason sticking to common definition is serving that purpose.

Well, maybe there are other reasons too, however I can't figure any other good reason that would actually make sense, however many times things don't make sense.