VOWEL DUMPS Short (2 of 4)
NOTE: This post relates to the “VOWEL DUMPS Short” (Beg. 1.5) word list or note sheet (see the Word List page).
I’m going to start with word 18 and move down the list through word 37 (AMIA through EURO).
The first two words (AMIA and AMIE) are both hooks from AMI:
AMI a friend [n –S]
This matches up well with AMIE (a female friend), so think of adding an A and and E to AMI as a way to get a fish and female companionship. Also interesting here are the four front hooks for these two words:
LAMIA a female demon (an evil spirit) [n –MIAS or –MIAE]
ZAMIA a tropical plant [n –S]
MAMIE mamey (a tropical tree) [n –S]
RAMIE an Asian shrub [n –S]
Almost hate to acknowledge it, but LAMIA can easily be remember by associating it with LABIUM/LABIA, ZAMIA is a great Z word (for stretching from a DL to a DW, etc.). MAMIE and RAMIE just have to get filed in the interesting “plant” hook category.
ANOA stands alone. Picture a lone ox standing on a hill at dusk. No inner or outer hooks. Only an “S” to make a plural.
You have to get the “E” plurals down if you are serious about learning vowel dumps. The next few words are good examples (AQUAE, AREAE, AURAE), note that all three of these words also take the more normal “S.” AREA has a couple interesting derivaties (AREAL, AREALLY). ARIA also has a couple interesting hooks:
MARIA MARE, a dark area on the surface of the moon or Mars [n]
VARIA a miscellany of literary works [n –S]
VARIA is a great word (a handy V word, also with enough letters to stretch from a DL to a DW, etc.). ASEA (SEA plus “A”, just like ALEE, AJEE, AGEE, which can be reduced to LEE, JEE, GEE; in each case the “A” adds “direction”). The R hook for AURA seems a little odd (and it is). AURAL, AURAE, and AURAS all make sense, but what is AURAR? As it turns out, AURAR is the plural of:
EYRIR a monetary unit of Iceland [n AURAR]
Offer to buy your friends lunch if they know the plural of EYRIR. You’re probably not going to be putting out for lunch.
AWEE is a cute word, built from WEE (WEER, WEEST). BEAU is part of a nice tangle of words (EAU, EAUX, BEAUS, BEAUT, BEAUX, BEAUISH). Everyone knows CIAO (but are you confident enough that you know how to spell it to play it in a Scrabble game?). EASE has a nice cluster of front and back hooks, most of which are obvious, except for:
FEASE to faze (to disturb the composure of) [v FEASED, FEASING, FEASES]
PEASE a pea (the edible seed of an annual herb) [n PEASEN or PEASES]
FEASE is a interesting variant of FAZE – it can also be spelled FEAZE and FEEZE, each with the usual ED-ING-S endings (so there’s nine Z words right there, all variants of FAZE).
EAVE also has a cluster of hooks, two of which are uncommon:
DEAVE to deafen (to make deaf (lacking the sense of hearing)) [v DEAVED, DEAVING, DEAVES]
REAVE to plunder (to rob of goods by force) [v REAVED or REFT, REAVING, REAVES]
DEAVE is one of those neat words that just seems to stick, at least for me (and it’s clearly related to DEAFEN, so it should be easy to connect). If you’ve seen the television series Firefly or the movie Serenity, then you already know the word REAVER (if you haven’t, then Netflix the movie, you’ll at least get a Scrabble word out of it). Note that the past tense of REAVE can be REAVED or REFT. Take the E off of EAVE and you have:
AVE an expression of greeting or farewell [n –S]
EIDOS, with it’s plural, EIDE, may seem esoteric, but somehow adding an R to EIDE makes the pair more memorable:
EIDER a large sea duck [n –S]
EMU can also be spelled EMEU, and EPEE take us down the path of different ways to spell TEPEE (TEEPEE, TIPI). ETUI is tough to remember, but pairing it with its inner hook helps (think of a little case for carrying around a bird):
TUI a bird of New Zealand [n –S]
The obvious definition for EURO is the currency, but that’s not what’s in the OSPD4 – it’s a large kangaroo (or WALLAROO).
And that takes us down to word 37 out of 89 on the VOWEL DUMPS Short word list.
