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Turtle Hull

It’s a ninja thing.

Dear Word Detective: I just discovered your articles online, and was pleased to find an explanation of the term “calf rope” (which I recently introduced to my youngest child), and also see that you at least reference the word “tump.” I grew up using both words regularly in southern Arkansas. This reminded me of another term that I’ve heard my parents use a good bit when I was growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, but never really understood the meaning. My parents would often refer to the trunk of a car as the “turtle hull.” I’ve found references online defining the term as the trunk of a car, but no explanation of how/when the term quit referring to an actual turtle, and instead to a portion of a car. Any ideas? — Greg Harrison.

It’s always nice to be discovered, and in this case your discovery produced my discovery that I have columns online (from, respectively, 2003 and 1999) that I have absolutely no memory of writing. “Calf rope” is, I remember now, a regional “surrender term” used by children in the southern US to signal that they are giving up in a fight, much as saying “uncle” has been used for centuries. I apparently came up blank back in 1999 on “tump” meaning “overturn,” as in “tump over a boat.” But the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says, I now notice, that it’s a US dialectical term meaning “to strike a person roughly” or “to knock down or over roughly” (“I wuz gonna take a big drank of muh Arro Cee Cola until you came by and tumped it over,” Dallas Morning News, 1983), which certainly sounds like the “tump” I was looking for. The OED suggests that this “tump” arose simply as a dialectical pronunciation of “thump.”

“Turtle hull” is a new one on me, but there seem to be a lot of people asking about it online, and there is broad agreement that it’s a slightly antiquated term for the trunk of a car, again used primarily in the southern US. The cargo compartment of a passenger automobile has gone by a range of monikers over the years. In the UK, it’s generally called the “boot,” after platforms on the side of horse-drawn carriages where guards sat (and under which luggage was carried). It’s not clear exactly how “boot” connects to that “platform” sense, but it may be based on the sense of “boot” as a protective container. Back in the 18th century, the main luggage compartment was also known as the “well.” The US term “trunk” is actually relatively recent, dating back to the 1930s. This “trunk” is based on “trunk” in the sense of “chest, box or case” (as in “steamer trunk”), a use that arose because the first “trunks” were made (supposedly) from actual tree trunks. My back hurts just thinking about that.

I have yet to find a dictionary that lists “turtle-hull,” but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) does have an entry for “turtle-back” meaning “a rounded projecting boot on a motor vehicle,” which first appeared in print in 1941. This use was by analogy to an arched structure called a “turtle-back” (or “turtle-deck”) sometimes mounted on the bow and/or stern of 19th century steamships to protect against heavy seas. Modern lifeboats on large ships often have this sort of arched canopy fore and aft (or are entirely enclosed by one) to protect passengers and prevent the craft from swamping in a storm. This seafaring “turtle-back” takes its name from its resemblance to the arched shell of a turtle, and the rounded trunks of mid-20th century cars apparently also evoked comparison to our pokey reptilian pals.

The substitution of “hull” for “back” in “turtle-hull” seems a little odd, but not really mysterious. This is “hull” in the sense of “hard outer covering of a seed,” or (given the nautical origin of “turtle-back”) “hull” in the sense of “body of a ship” (which is almost certainly based on the “seed casing” sense of “hull” anyway).

17 comments to Turtle Hull

  • Boot: I was told some decades ago that “boot” comes from the French “boite” [circumflex-i], meaning “box”. Almost the same as “trunk”; likewise “bonnet”/”hood”.

    I wonder if there are any other bits of cars where we’re separated by our common language?

  • Vic Parrish

    I always thought the origin of “tump” was a sort of mish-mash of “tip” and “dump”, which in the circumstances I’ve heard people use it made perfect sense.

  • Louise Hope

    >> I wonder if there are any other bits of cars where we’re separated by our common language? <<

    Most bits, I think. Or parts, as we say in the US. Windscreen : windshield.

  • B.K. Warfield

    My grandparents in east Texas called the car trunk the “turtle hull” but never explained why. I’ve wondered whether it was a corruption of the term “turtle hold” on old sailing ships. They also used “car shed” for garage or carport.

  • Loryia Bond

    My Aunt in West Virginia always called the trunk of the car the ‘Turtle’ – fascination with word origins! Thanks for the forum!

  • Barney Smith

    Look at old cars from the forties and early fifties and you will see that the trunk lid resembles a turtle hull. A turtle shell that has had the turtle “hulled” out of it.

  • William S. Deaver

    Being a child growing up in the South in the 60s and 70s I can say without a doubt that “Turtle” was very common every day language referencing the trunk of a car but never in my life have I ever heard or used the term “calf rope” to mean surrender or instead of “Uncle”. That’s an obscure one to be sure.

  • I was referring to my Mazda Miata turtle hull to my stepson who was born in eighties and he thought I was really out in left field when I said this. I googled turtle hull and came up with this site. I will tell everyone about the Word Detective. This is a very entertaining, educating, and the best site I have come across for the use of dialectical terms. I have used calf rope and tump, etc. This is part of my southern heritage which I am very proud of.

  • Fred

    When I was a child many people would refer to the trunk of a car as the “Turtle” I once heard the reason it was called a turtle was due to the shape of the trunk of a car during thhose early years. Many cars trunks were humped and shaped like a turtle shell. As far as “Tump” we used that word also. Tump it over. Meaning knock it over. Those words just went away with the passing of time. Remember when everyone used the word “Cool”? He’s so cool! Meaning special…hip…with it..or up to date. Those were the days. By the way .. I’m 70 years old. A Pepsi generation survivor.

  • barronj

    Calf rope, if you have ever witnessed roping competition at a rodeo, is where a calf is lassoed, tackled and tied up in a quick fashion. It’s used in context of getting someone to do something against their will, forcing them by submission.

  • barronj

    I came across this site because my grandfather (from SE Texas) also called the trunk the turtle hull

  • east texas

    country livin’ , country folks and country words and phrases— nothin’ livin’ in the USA and in the South!

  • Phil Young

    I’m from Oklahoma originally and I always called the back of the car at Turtle the hall. So when I went to Philadelphia for school people thought I was crazy and had no idea what I was talking about. I’m still glad I learned that vernacular version of talking about the trunk of a car that way.

  • roy d garner

    when i was growing up my dad and uncles always referred to the trunk of our car as turtle hull, didn’t start using trunk until i was about 13 when i worked in a little store and people would say put the groceries in the trunk, around 1958

  • Magnolia Belle

    Growing up in Central Louisiana my family called the trunk a turtle hull also!

  • Bobby Rosbrough

    My grandmother called the trunk of a car the turtle hull also. She also called a light bulb a light globe.

  • Shooter

    It was referred to a turtle shell or turtle hole because when you open the trunk the bracing on the back of the trunk look like a turtle shell

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