Personally I've always taken exception to the Tiger-Cats being called the Tabbies. I expect it in the media from rival cities but I've heard it on CHCH and Y108 as well. To me it's like calling the blue team "The Sailor Boys" or the Alouettes "The Tweety Birds". Does it bother anyone else?
Personally I don't have an issue with this. Below from Wiki, the etymology of the term 'tabby' from the tabby cat article. We do have some difficult older fans probably, and of course some are women. 
The English term "tabby" comes from the 1630s, "striped silk taffeta," from the French "tabis," meaning "a rich, watered silk (originally striped)," from Middle French atabis (14c.), from Arabic attabiya, from Attabiy, a neighborhood of Baghdad where such cloth was first made, named for prince 'Attab of the Omayyad dynasty. The term Tabby cat, "one with a striped coat:, is attested from 1690s; shortened form tabby first attested 1774. Sense of "female cat" (1826) may be influenced by the fem. proper name Tabby, a pet form of Tabitha, which was used in late 18c. as slang for "difficult old woman."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabby_catpersonally, I don’t find the “Tabbies” moniker bothersome or insulting.
Pus#y-Cats or Puddy Tats however… :x
BTW, love the original TiCats chant as well Tiger-Gryphon. :thup:
Just be glad we no longer have to endure references to the "Balsam Bengal Bunker". :roll:
Everyone I know has always used, and still use “Tabbies” as a term of affection for the team. I still use it that way.
For all that Wikipedia is the source of all knowledge these days, I believe the “Tabby” entry is wrong on this and it has nothing to do with the taffeta cloth other than pure coincidence. The Cat fancying community (of which I am -not- a member) defines a “tabby cat” as simply a stripped cat, and Tabby has always been a diminutive of Tiger.
Best typo I’ve seen here in a while, Bob. The imagination runs rampant with it… I’m guessing you meant “striped”, not “stripped”.
BTW, I look at Tabbies as a term of affection too, not an insult.
True enough Caretaker that no one should accept what is found on Wikipedia without further research. Below is a link to the online etymology dictionary and the entry for tabby. Yes, striped coat is right there in this entry.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tabbyAgree the word affectionate works for me as well calling the TigerCats the Tabbies if people want to do this. I have done this myself also.
Calling the Ti-Cats "Tabbies" is akin to calling the Toronto Maple Leafs "Buds" or the Montreal Canadiens "Habs". No insult there.
Go Tabbies Go
Good topic, I never really took it as an insult, so i guess it doesn't
bother me. I agree with the Buds, habs reference.
My two grey-stripe tabby cats happen to be fierce Tiger-Cat fans.
Maybe I’ll use that chant the next time I’m at a “Tabbies” game 