You know what, I feel like the shell part of the turtle is best represented by the “turt” part of the world turtle. It just looks the way “turt” sounds.

So a turtle without it’s shell I think should start to be called a “le” (pronounced like in the world turtle), which represents very well, as a sound, a “turt”-less turtle

I can picture it now. An Ice Age movie where Sid, Manny, and Diego are hanging around a bar and this chonky boy shows up out of nowhere and makes an outrageous claim. Queue “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” music.

Turtle shells are already on the inside. The entire surface of their shells is skin!