U Got This

Having UU can certainly mess up your scrabble rack. Lawson showed on Monday that he has been doing some study in this area, but luckily for me he confused two words and ended up losing a turn when it was challenged off.

He played x – LITUUM - x. It was through a T on the board so 5 of his letters were LMIUU. Ugly! Only after the game did he realise that the word he was thinking of was LITUUS, a word I have never seen and would also have challenged, but unsuccessfully. Apparently it is a Roman trumpet that is shaped like the letter J. The plural form is LITUUSES. I have played UTILISES as a bonus word lots of times and that is almost the same letters (double I instead of double U). Makes you wonder how many times LITUUSES could have been played.

Interestingly a word that Lawson could have played with the letters he had was TUMULI. The plural of TUMULUS, a mound over a grave. That seemed vaguely familiar, but I wasn't sure and would have given Lawson an extra 5 points for that as well

The weird words that Lawson studies are too tough for this blog. We are just going to cover all the 3 and 4 letter words with UU. They are very useful to help you balance your rack. Do you know them all?

ULU An Inuit knife

UMU A type of hangi

UTU The Maori word for the settlement of a debt

Those 3 words can all add an S, so I won’t list those plurals below

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BUBU A long flowing garment worn in Mali (also BOUBOU)

FUGU A fish containing a powerful neurotoxin

GURU A Hindu spiritual teacher (also GOOROO)

HUHU A hairy NZ beetle

JUKU A Japanese school that prepares students for university

KUDU An antelope with long horns (also KOODOO)

KURU A disease of the nervous system mostly found in New Guinea

KUTU A Maori word for a louse found on the body

KUZU A thickening agent used in a macrobiotic diet

LUAU A Hawaiian dish of octopus and coconut

LULU Something that is outstandingly good or bad

PUKU An antelope of Southern Africa

PULU A silken fibre from a Hawaiian tree fern

MUMU A long loose dress (also MUUMUU)

PUDU A small South American deer

PUPU A dish of Asian foods served as an appetizer

RURU A NZ owl

SULU A Fijian cloth worn as a sarong

SUSU A financial arrangement among a group of friends

TUTU A ballerina’s skirt

UNAU A two-toed sloth

URUS An extinct bovine also called an AUROCHS

WUDU The ritual washing before the daily Islamic prayer

YUZU A type of Japanese citrus fruit

ZULU A fishing vessel with two masts

That last one surprised me. I had always imagined it was an African tribe, but I suppose that meaning has to be spelled with a capital Z

Happy Scrabbling Patrick