turtle VS tortoise
Hi! I just was learning some vocabulary about animals and I found the word tortoise which I'd never seen... I knew that tortuga is turtle, so... what's about the word tortoise? British again?
8 Answers
A turtle is not the same thing as a tortoise - at least not in British English.
A tortoise is a type of turtle, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoises have their own taxonomic family, testudinidae, and are terrestrial creatures adapted for hot and dry climates, while turtles are aquatic. There is a further subdivision - terrapins - which is used for those members which inhabit the "in-between areas like swamps and marshes.
So, to end the discussion, is this a "Ninja Turtle" or a "Ninja Tortoise"? 
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From wikipedia turtle:
Although the word turtle is widely used to describe all members of the order Testudines, it is also common to see certain members described as terrapins, tortoises or sea turtles as well. Precisely how these alternative names are used, if at all, depends on the type of English being used.
British English normally describes these reptiles as turtles if they live in the sea; terrapins if they live in fresh or brackish water; or tortoises if they live on land. However, there are exceptions to this where American or Australian common names are in wide use, as with the Fly River turtle.
American English tends to use the word turtle as a general term for all species. "Tortoise" is used for most land-dwelling species, including the family Testudinidae and box tortoises. Oceanic species are usually referred to as sea turtles. The name "terrapin" is typically reserved only for the brackish water diamondback terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin; the word terrapin being derived from the Algonquian word for this animal.
Australian English uses turtle for both the marine and freshwater species, but tortoise for the terrestrial species.
A short funny video on youtube concerning turtles. Maybe you've seen it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y
Actually those two words give rise to a few lines of dialogue in one of my favorite movies, 'Blade Runner'. In fact, outside of that I've only heard that word (tortoise) a couple of times.
One man (Holden) starts to describe a hypothetical situation during the infamous Voight-Kampff test and says:
Holden: You look down and see a tortoise, Leon.
Leon: Tortoise? What's that?
Holden: You know what a turtle is?
Leon: Of course!
Holden: Same thing.
Well, I never knew there were regional differences in the use of turtle and tortoise !!
Tortuga = tortoise and tortuga marina = turtle
they actually are the same word! you just have to point it out.
