difference between hair and fur

[Bub-les]

What is the difference between hair and fur?

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Bub-les

What is the difference between hair and fur?

One is hairy and one is furry

Sorry I couldn't resist. I don't know apart from the fact that fur is softer I would think than hair.
Roger

[thunder]

No difference whatsoever, really. Fur is usually thick and soft, but it's hair, nonetheless. I suppose you could call fur 'high quality hair' (if you like your hair that way!)

henrya

[Meta menardi]

Hair today and gone tomorrow.

That's me.

Fur better or fur worse. That's ... an aphorism. Or part of a vow.

If you have fur, it is made of hair. If you are hairy, you may not be furry. If you have hair, it is not made of fur.

I think all these statements are true, and from this I deduce that lots of short hair, set close together, will make fur, but fur will rarely be hairy. It's just too furry.

It's like cheese (possibly, but I am no expert), and turf probably. Turf is grass, grass is not always turf.

I really hope this helps, but I think we could do with some funding for research.

[AndyC]

If you can wear it it's fur...

[witham]

if it feels furry it's fur, if it feels hairy it's hair although longish fur can feel hairy and short hair can feel furry, that's it I'm off to take my medication

[pressld2]

Nice thread!

hair –noun 1. any of the numerous fine, usually cylindrical, keratinous filaments growing from the skin of humans and animals; a pilus.

fur –noun 1. the fine, soft, thick, hairy coat of the skin of a mammal.

So maybe it's collective... Just as one cow is a cow but lots of cows is a herd, maybe one hair is a hair but lots of hair is a fur?

Of course, this doesn't explain why we refer to horse hair instead of horse fur and I'm definitely not going into my barbers and asking for a furcut!

Dave P.

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by AndyC

If you can wear it it's fur...

Some time ago, we had a student with very long hair, but one holiday when he went home his Mum cut it all off, spun it into thread and Knitted him a bobble hat with it, so there must be some flaw in your arguement, but I'll be darned if I can see what it is.

Detailed research (funded, of course) and a paper are the only things that will sort this out. I should like to get the funding, and do the research probably.

[Dogghound]

I think people have covered it but basically fur its the soft underlayer which is mainly used to keep the animal warm (its coat). Hair is less thick and grows longer than the under fur and often has more colour to it, although the term hair can be used to describe an invididual piece of fur. for example you would say a hair, but wouldnt say a fur.