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Yall should remove some of these animal words and instead add different words for like the 5 different meanings of "spring"

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[-] osanna@lemmy.vg 84 points 2 weeks ago

I always thought turtles mostly live in the water and tortoises mostly lived on land.

[-] WaterSword@discuss.tchncs.de 50 points 2 weeks ago
[-] nyctre@piefed.social 12 points 2 weeks ago

The good ol' "All tortoises are turtles but not all turtles are tortoises"

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[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 47 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Simple!

Turtle: pretty chill dude cruising the East Australian Current

Tortoise: teaching Pandas Kung-Fu

[-] gnutrino@programming.dev 37 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Damn kids, in my day turtles lived in the sewer eating pizza and doing ninjutsu.

shakes cane

[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

Those clearly were tortoises though :D

[-] gnutrino@programming.dev 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Technically they're (mutated) terrapins (specifically red-eared terrapins).

[-] MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

Teenage Mutant Ninja Terrapins
Teenage Mutant Ninja Terrapins
Teenage Mutant Ninja Terrapins
Heroes in a half-shell, Terrapin Power!

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[-] BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.world 41 points 2 weeks ago

Tortoises are Turtles, but not all Turtles are Tortoises.

This isn't an English thing, this is a taxonomy thing. It should be the same in any language, just with different words used.

[-] menas@lemmy.wtf 9 points 2 weeks ago

Both are translated "tortue" in french However to be fair, it could be specified "Tortue marine" and "Tortue terrestre"

[-] ptu@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago

But tortoise sounds like a French word

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[-] danda@lemmy.zip 39 points 2 weeks ago

A turtle lives in water, a tortoise lives on land. A turtle's not a tortoise, it's not hard to understand.

[-] esc@piefed.social 15 points 2 weeks ago

But they are turtles, like every crow is a bird.

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[-] blinfabian@feddit.nl 11 points 2 weeks ago

in dutch theyre called landschildpad and zeeschildpad (landshelltoad and seashelltoad)

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[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 31 points 2 weeks ago

Simple. One can be thrown into water and it'll be OK. The other...not so much.

[-] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

So an ordinary witch test?

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[-] nightlily@leminal.space 29 points 2 weeks ago

German: that toad looking thing has a shield on it

[-] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 weeks ago

Dutch as well, schildpad literally translates to shielded toad.

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[-] weariedfae@sh.itjust.works 27 points 2 weeks ago

Easy! A turtle is flippy flips and a tortoise is clompy clomps.

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[-] FishFace@piefed.social 17 points 2 weeks ago

Tortoises are land animals. Simple.

Frogs and toads might be a better one - there's no systematic difference except toads are ugly.

[-] Digit@lemmy.wtf 16 points 2 weeks ago
[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

Distant muffled sound of Diogenes frantically strapping scuba flippers onto a Galapagos tortoise

[-] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 weeks ago

This is your reminder that taxonomically fish and trees do not exist.

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[-] fartsparkles@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

All tortoises are turtles (but not all turtles are tortoises) from a biology point of view. Tortoises specifically being exclusively land-based members of the turtle (Testudines) order. So there is a difference.

And “spring” doesn’t really have different meanings - as per the root of the word, it always means some variant of “to burst forth”. There’s lots of different definitions for the word but they’re all rooted in the same place, from an etymology point of view.

The season bursting forth from the winter darkness and cold, the metal coil as it bursts forth when released from compression, the source of water as it bursts forth from the ground, bursting forth someone out of jail, etc.

Homographs are the real problem - when two different words, over time, become spelled the same.

Sow, lead, close, bear. All have multiple etymologies where different words eventually became spelled the same. Those are the worst!

English is a truly crazy mashup of Latin, Greek, French, German, Celtic, Norse and more.

Why did you do this

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 13 points 2 weeks ago

The biggest difference is that turtles live in and around water, while tortises are entirely land based.

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[-] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

Would be simpler just to call them turtles and landturtles.

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

How about "dry shelly boys" and "wet shelly boys?"

[-] renzev@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] luthis@lemmy.nz 8 points 2 weeks ago

They are waaaaaay different what are you talking about..

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

This is like the hare and rabbit thing... (what are the differences?)

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 7 points 2 weeks ago

One is fluffy, the other is forced to listen to the dark echoes of the void

[-] Actionschnils@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

As far as I know, they are totally diferent species, that coincidentally look alike. The European hares closest relative is the roe deer(?)

But Im not a biologist. Probably someone with real knowledge can say something about it

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[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

A tortoise is a kind of turtle, just like a toad is a kind of frog.

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[-] notabot@piefed.social 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If you think "spring" is bad, go check how many different meanings there are for the word "set".

[-] renzev@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

"off" is one my favourites. The alarm went OFF so we had to turn it OFF. It means the opposite of itself.

"Sanction" is another example. Your actions were not sanctioned by us, so as retaliation we're introducing sanctions against you.

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[-] vatlark@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

English: owl

German: Eule, Uhu, Kauz

French: Hibou, Chouette

[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

My box turtle mostly lives on soil, although he enjoys a paddle and soak in his water. But the main difference from a tortoise is that he's omnivorous, needing protein like bugs, whereas they are herbivores.

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[-] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

One is an animal and the other a military formation, duh.

[-] dumbass@piefed.social 5 points 2 weeks ago

Well a tortoise could never become a ninja.

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this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2026
382 points (90.6% liked)

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