As an Australian, my understanding is that tortoises walk around on land, and turtles swim. Sometimes people say one when they mean the other, but that’s a bit like confusing bees and wasps (i.e. people understand they are different, but in some circumstances that difference isn’t important enough to try to get it right!)
That’s exactly the distinction in British English too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say one for the other, but of course it probably does happen.
![Hurry [Poorly Drawn Lines]](https://lemmus.org/pictrs/image/205fdaeb-5c59-4e04-96ac-b456d723fa18.webp){kind=link}
As an Australian, my understanding is that tortoises walk around on land, and turtles swim. Sometimes people say one when they mean the other, but that’s a bit like confusing bees and wasps (i.e. people understand they are different, but in some circumstances that difference isn’t important enough to try to get it right!)
That’s exactly the distinction in British English too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say one for the other, but of course it probably does happen.