Do You Know Your German Grandmother?

The dictionary says that OMA is a term for a German grandmother. It is a common word to see on the scrabble board because it might be played when somebody hooks an O in from of MA or it might be played when OM gets an A put after it.

There is an alternative spelling for a German grandmother – OUMA – but that seems to be played less often. Anyway, this quiz is on how well you know your OMA and OUMA. In both cases the only letter to go after them is an S, but do you know what letters can go in front of those words?

The blog is about the letters you can hook next to 3 letter words with an A and an O such as OMA. Do the OMA/OUMA quiz now and you can see the answers at the end of the blog.

The first letter we will put between A & O is the letter B:

ABO is short for aborigine. No useful hooks except for an S to make ABOS

OBA is a West African ruler. It takes the usual plural of an S, but also:

B – OBA A contagious skin disease

S – OBA A Japanese noodle made from buckwheat

OCA is a tropical wood sorrel with edible tubers. It takes an S plural and:

C – OCA The dried leaf of a South American shrub

L – OCA The plural of the latin word LOCUS, a locality

S – OCA A variety of Caribbean calypso music

ADO is a bustle or fuss. It takes the normal plural with an S, and:

D – ADO An ornamental groove

F – ADO A Portuguese folk song

S – ADO A Japanese tea ceremony

ODA is a room in a harem. It takes a normal S plural, and:

C – ODA A passage at the end of a musical composition

S – ODA Any of a number of common sodium compounds

ODA – H Another way to express the plural form of the word

ODA – L A Scottish estate without a feudal superior

AGO means in the past, so CANNOT have an S after it, but can have:

D – AGO An offensive term for a man from Italy, Spain or Portugal

K – AGO Japanese basketwork

S – AGO A type of palm tree with a nutrients in the pith

AGO – G An adjective meaning in excited eagerness

AGO – N The dramatic conflict between literary chief characters

OKA is a Turkish unit of weight. It takes a normal S and:

H – OKA (Maori) The red cod

K – OKA A Judo throw worth 3 points. (Not very useful with two K’s)

OKA – Y To approve or pass

APO is short for apolipoprotein, a type of protein. It takes S plural and:

C – APO The head of a branch of the mafia

G – APO A forest that is periodically flooded

APO – D An animal that does not have feet or fins

OPA is a German grandfather. It takes an S plural and just one front hook:

D – OPA A drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease

OUPA is an alternative spelling like OUMA, but takes only the S plural

ORA is a plural of OS, (latin for bone). No S plural but LOTS of other hooks:

B – ORA A violent, cold North wind

F – ORA Plural of forum, a public meeting place. (Forums is also good)

G – ORA A white or fair skinned Indian male

H – ORA An Israeli dance

K – ORA An African musical instrument like a harp

M – ORA A unit of metrical time

S – ORA A North American bird of the rail family

T – ORA The body of Jewish law and learning

ORA – D Towards the mouth. (so does not take an S)

ORA – L Relating to the mouth or uttered by the mouth

AVO is a monetary unit of Macau. As well as the S plural there is just:

AVO – W To declare

OVA is the plural of OVUM so does not pluralise, but does have:

N – OVA An exploding star

OVA – L An egg-shaped object

AZO is an adjective describing compounds with nitrogen, so no plural:

L –AZO To catch with a long rope

AZO – N A radio-controlled aerial bomb

So finally we come to OUMA and OMA. The first has just one front hook:

D – OUMA The Russian parliament

OMA has a lot of front hooks:

B – OMA An African thorn enclosure

L – OMA In South-Western America this is a hill with a broad, flat top

N – OMA An ulceration of the cheek

C – OMA A spherical cloud of material surrounding the head of a comet

H – OMA A sacred plant of the ancient Persians

R – OMA A gypsy man

S – OMA The who axial portion of an animal: head, neck, trunk, tail

Those last answers are not in alphabetical order because I wanted to point out that a good mnemonic for remembering them would be BLaNCHeRS

Happy Scrabbling in 2019

Patrick