this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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OP didn't say "tortie". They said tortoise shell pattern. (Well, they implied that.) The pattern of dots on the cat's belly does indeed look kind of like a tortoise shell.
Tortie is just shorthand for tortoiseshell, which the belly isn't. She's a very pretty cat, but words have meanings and she doesn't have tortoiseshell pattern fur.
I'm not talking about the color variant (which doesn't look like a toirtoise at all, really). OP's cat's belly looks like a literal tortoise shell.
This is just kinda obstinate though. Tortoiseshell in the context of cats obviously refers to the fur pattern. To assume otherwise is odd. And just because that's the kind of tortoiseshell you're thinking of doesn't mean the pattern isn't also named after a tortoiseshell.
That's a sea turtle in your photo and not a tortoise.
Anyway, rather they continue to argue with me, why don't you just ask OP what they meant?
Here, I'll do it for you... @stringere@sh.itjust.works What did you mean by your title? Can you settle our debate?
I meant the tortoiseshell pattern on her stomach and not the breed.
Yeah, I figured. I don't know why that other guy was being so weird about it.
I'm aware. It's also the one the tortoiseshell pattern (in general, not just for cats) is named for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoiseshell
And frankly, it doesn't particularly matter what OP meant. Doesn't make it correct. Tortoiseshell cat fur is a specific pattern.
This entire argument was me just trying to explain what OP meant. So yes, it matters.
You're an ass. Blocked.
OP used a word with a specific meaning. Someone pointed out that that word doesn't apply here. You come in to say that we're wrong for pointing out that word doesn't apply and keep digging in to say why the word doesn't mean what it means.
One of us is an ass for sure.