All Tortoises Are Turtles

[wellington]

(Spammer's portion of discussion removed)


Yes, but we refer to tortoises as tortoises and turtles as turtles.
There is more knowledge about tortoises on this TORTOISE forum. So, if someone starts a thread and says turtle, when it's really a tortoise, they will get less responses.

 

[SinLA]

This is a semantics issue. The definitions of what is called a turtle vs tortoise is different in different parts of the world. Australia, Europe, and North America all have different terms for what is a turtle vs a tortoise.

 

[Yvonne G]

Nice try. . . but you no foolie me, me Sammy Lee

SPAM!!!

(If you had clicked on the words that were the color green it took you to a site selling rottweilers)

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Yeah, in my country there is one word kilpikonna (="shelled toad") used to describe both turtles and tortoises. Vesikilpikonna (="water shelled toad") is used to describe turtles and maakilpikonna (="ground shelled toad") is used for tortoises. I guess it is one of the wonders of language...

 

[wellington]

Nice try. . . but you no foolie me, me Sammy Lee

SPAM!!!

(If you had clicked on the words that were the color green it took you to a site selling rottweilers)

Oh wow, great catch!

 

[jaizei]

@Yvonne G @wellington

Any reason to leave this since the OP was deleted? It seems like Barb is starting an argument out of nowhere.

Yeah, in my country there is one word kilpikonna (="shelled toad") used to describe both turtles and tortoises. Vesikilpikonna (="water shelled toad") is used to describe turtles and maakilpikonna (="ground shelled toad") is used for tortoises. I guess it is one of the wonders of language...

That is similar to how many languages describe turtles & tortoises; same word with either a descriptor (land, water, sea, species etc) or context to differentiate when needed. English is an probably an outlier

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G @wellington

Any reason to leave this since the OP was deleted? It seems like Barb is starting an argument out of nowhere.





That is similar to how many languages describe turtles & tortoises; same word with either a descriptor (land, water, sea, species etc) or context to differentiate when needed. English is an probably an outlier

Where/how am I starting an argument? I'm in enough arguments without putting one on me that isn't!
But I don't care if its deleted.

 

[Anastasia 22]

😃

 

[Yvonne G]

@Yvonne G @wellington

Any reason to leave this since the OP was deleted? It seems like Barb is starting an argument out of nowhere.





That is similar to how many languages describe turtles & tortoises; same word with either a descriptor (land, water, sea, species etc) or context to differentiate when needed. English is an probably an outlier

I just thought it would be an interesting discussion. Go ahead. . . call me a troll!

 

[Anastasia 22]

I just thought it would be an interesting discussion. Go ahead. . . call me a troll!

It is an interesting discussion.
English is my third language and I never met the word "tortoise " in any workbooks. It was always "turtle". In Spanish "tortuga" is for turtles and tortoises.
When I took my tortoise to roam in a front yard my neighbors' kids called him "turtle ", so I explained the difference, and since then they call my boy "Mister Tortoise ".
And it's a kind of common thing that when you don't have any tortoise/turtle then you don't really care how it's called. At least, that's what I noticed.

 

[wellington]

It is an interesting discussion.
English is my third language and I never met the word "tortoise " in any workbooks. It was always "turtle". In Spanish "tortuga" is for turtles and tortoises.
When I took my tortoise to roam in a front yard my neighbors' kids called him "turtle ", so I explained the difference, and since then they call my boy "Mister Tortoise ".
And it's a kind of common thing that when you don't have any tortoise/turtle then you don't really care how it's called. At least, that's what I noticed.

Most people that see mine call them turtles. I think it's because we have no tortoises where I am. I would imagine the states with tortoises, probably call them tortoise and turtles appropriately.

 

[SinLA]

My friends deliberately say "turtle" because they know I'll reflexively correct it to "tortoise" before I can help myself

 

[wellington]

My friends deliberately say "turtle" because they know I'll reflexively correct it to "tortoise" before I can help myself

I used to correct people to. I gave up.

 

[COmtnLady]

Where I am, reptiles (except some kinds of snakes and lizards) are not really indigenous, so people just don't know them. For me, I only correct if it seems important for them to know the precise terminology. I usually explain the difference in feet and shells, but not if they were just trying to be conversational... (kinda like when someone you bump into randomly says "How are you", few actually want to hear about lower back pain or crazy relatives. But I did get into a good conversation while in line at the grocery store a couple months ago with a college kid who is in vet school, who actually wanted the details. And I gave him the name/address for The Tortoise Forum while I was at it.)

 

[zovick]

Where I am, reptiles (except some kinds of snakes and lizards) are not really indigenous, so people just don't know them. For me, I only correct if it seems important for them to know the precise terminology. I usually explain the difference in feet and shells, but not if they were just trying to be conversational... (kinda like when someone you bump into randomly says "How are you", few actually want to hear about lower back pain or crazy relatives. But I did get into a good conversation while in line at the grocery store a couple months ago with a college kid who is in vet school, who actually wanted the details. And I gave him the name/address for The Tortoise Forum while I was at it.)

Where are you in CO? Just curious.

I lived in Crested Butte in the early 1960's. We had a few types of snakes, (mostly Lined Snakes) and Tiger Salamanders up there. I cannot recall seeing any lizards, but there may have been some that I didn't observe.

 

[COmtnLady]

About fifty miles west of Denver.

There are these really cool ones that climb on the screens, and have the prettiest azure bellies. If anything is fast enough to catch one, it can let its tail tear off as it escapes then regrow a new one. They're about six inches long.

I found a salamander in Silverthorne a bazillion years ago. 'Don't know what kind it was, dark with some speckles.

There are odd little rattlesnakes that the locals call "Little Greenies" down in the San Luis Valley's south end. And bigger brown ones other places. There have to be some kinds of snakes out on the flatlands, but I don't have much experience out that direction. Snakes in general don't seem to be around much above 8,000 feet altitude, I've only seen a handful in the last thirty years, and those were the stripy ones...

And there are stories of snow snakes...


.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

My friends deliberately say "turtle" because they know I'll reflexively correct it to "tortoise" before I can help myself

Yeah, I used to get annoyed when someone would call my snails (="kotilo" in finnish) slugs (= "etana" in finnish). Some people here just use the word for slug to describe both...

 

[idcowden]

English is my third language and I never met the word "tortoise " in any workbooks. It was always "turtle".

Quite often TEFAL resources are American in origin and many people who speak English as a second or more language do so with an American accent - hence American terminology.

In British English chelonians fall into three categories:-

• Turtle is the salt water swimmer
• Terrapin is a fresh water swimmer
• Tortoise. is land based / sinks in water.

 

[wellington]

Yeah, I used to get annoyed when someone would call my snails (="kotilo" in finnish) slugs (= "etana" in finnish). Some people here just use the word for slug to describe both...

But slugs don't have a shell. All snails do, don't they?

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

But slugs don't have a shell. All snails do, don't they?

Yes, slugs have no shells, but some still use the word "etana" meaning slug to describe both, as like a common name. It is kinda hard to explain to a non Finnish speaker, but here is one example:

A translation of the finnish wikipedia page "Etana" "Snail is the name most commonly used for all completely or nearly shell-less gastropods (Stylommatophora) ... However, the name snails has sometimes been used as the Finnish name for a sect of land snails, in which case it also includes species with shells."
( https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etana )

This is especially common when talking about snails and slugs grown for food or served on a restaurant menu. These are almost inclusively called "Etana" (=slug) even though most are actually snails. Not sure why this is.