how do you pronounce tortoise

[GenieGenealogy]

(Please, no posts about vowel sounds and rhotic accents and the rest of it which has been hashed over so many times).

I was listening to a podcast from a company called Tortoise Media. The host - who is from London - says "tor-tuss". I am Scottish and would never in a million years say it that way, it's tor-toys to rhyme with turquoise. Is this a regional thing? And if other people are saying "tor-tuss" why is the colour not tur-qwuss?

Tor toy ss

Interesting thread - has to be tor-tuss -definitely judge people who say tor-toys as not well educated.

I would judge people who can't appreciate that things are said or pronounced differently in the various parts of the UK as the "not well educated" ones, personally.

I think it’s more a regional thing rather than level of education.

In middle English it was usually written as 'tortuce'.
The -oise spelling arrived later.

Tore tuss and I don't feel like I have to justify my reasons 😝

Did we have tortoises in the UK in the middle ages? I suppose if we had lions and other exotic beasts we must have (and easier to transport than a camel or something). The things you never think about...

This says far more about you than the people you deem to be ‘not well educated’.

Haha my husband and I wind each other up about this! He’s a Londoner and says “taw-tuss”. Barely any hint of an R sound in there! I’m west of Scotland and say it correctly as “tor-toys” to rhyme with turquoise as you say OP. See also: bath, ball, banana, water, moon, juice… many other words we say differently that make us laugh.

Tor-tuss. Plural Tor-tusses. North west.

I run an online antique shop so I sell lots of tor-tuss shell (faux)

Tort-uss

SE

I would judge somebody who doesn't realise that there are regional accents, and therefore, different pronunciations of words within the UK as not well educated.

Tor-tuss

TorTuss
PorPuss
TurKwaz (Turquoise)

Canada/ bilingual country, English/French.
Note the French influence in the pronunciation ''turkwaz' (Turquoise) although I have heard it pronounced Tur-koise here too.

Turtle. (Family joke)

You lost me at turquoise!

I say tor-toyce as in "voice". DH says tor-tuss as in fuss.

I have never heard anyone say tor-t-woyz or even tort-oyz.

There's dozens of how to pronounce guides online. It is pronounced Tor-tuss, pretty well universally.

How to pronounce TORTOISE in English

But it's not. There is no "universal" English pronunciation. People in different parts of the UK speak differently, everyone knows that. A dictionary is going to give the RP version of how to say things, the BBC English, Queen's English way of speaking. It;'s ONE way of saying a word which will guarantee you are understood and people know what you are talking about.

But that doesn't mean that all of us who say tort-oyz, or tort-oice or similar are wrong. Or poorly-educated or stupid.

Tor-toys - also Scottish

By universal, I mean it is the same in the UK, and in the USA.

@lavendermilkshake , tor·toise
[ˈtɔːtəs, ˈtɔːtɔɪs]

Both are correct and in use.

I was private school educated and now to post-grad level, but as I'm from the North and have a regional accent on some words, I suppose you'd think I was rough and ignorant.

Northerners are well aware of the type of Londoner who thinks the world begins and ends at the M25 and they are superior to everyone outside it, and we think of them as uneducated, rude and obnoxious to boot so I suppose it goes both ways.

@RaraRachael This giraffe / Likes to laugh / Loves to wear boots and a hat and a scarf.
doesn't work when I say it. The giraffe and laugh rhyme but the scarf doesn't.

Sorry, forgot to clear the quote.

By universal, I mean it is the same in the UK, and in the USA.

If there's one thing that's for sure, it's that accents and pronunciation in the US and UK are not the same. Have no idea what your point is to be honest, unless it's to show that the RP/BBC English is correct and the rest of us are wrong.

Tor-toise. I’m amazed people say tortus - I’ve only ever heard children say that.