Opa, Oma | WordReference Forums

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. opa, oma

• Thread starter Thread starter Thomas1
• Start date Start date Jun 21, 2007

Thomas1

Senior Member

polszczyzna warszawska Good evening, I have come across the words from the subject and would like to know whether they are in common use or rather in a personal one. From the context I guess opa and oma mean old pa (grand? father) old ma (grand? mother), can you confirm, please? Here's the post where I encountered them:

shippothekit said: Well I honestly don't know. I would imagine it would have been americanized (though I'm Canadian lol) when he came into Canada. However my opa moved from Poland to Germany when they forced him to work during the war and then to Chile for work after getting married in Germany to my oma. They then went back to Germany and then to Canada so it could have been changed any time in there. Unless they only change it in the US & Canada.[...] Click to expand...

Input appreciated, Tom T

Thomas Tompion

Member Emeritus

Southern England English - England

Thomas1 said: Good evening, I have come across the words from the subject and would like to know whether they are in common use or rather in a personal one. From the context I guess opa and oma mean old pa (grand? father) old ma (grand? mother), can you confirm, please? Here's the post where I encountered them: Input appreciated, Tom Click to expand...

Hi Thomas1, I hope you are feeling first class. I don't know many people who put lol in their sentences, so I'm deeply suspicious that you've got a case of textwrite here. Certainly I've never encountered the expressions in ordinary written or spoken British English. Best wishes, Thomas2 W

whichmelquiades

New Member

Canada, English Yes, opa and oma mean grandfather and grandmother, but in a more familiar way. More like grandpa and grandma.

nichec

Senior Member

Chinese(Taiwan)

Thomas1 said: Good evening, I have come across the words from the subject and would like to know whether they are in common use or rather in a personal one. From the context I guess opa and oma mean old pa (grand? father) old ma (grand? mother), can you confirm, please? Here's the post where I encountered them: Input appreciated, Tom Click to expand...

I think so, either grandparents or parents. But I have never seen it before.........

Doppelrahmstufe

Senior Member

Vienna Austria, German

whichmelquiades said: Yes, opa and oma mean grandfather and grandmother, but in a more familiar way. More like grandpa and grandma. Click to expand...

Yes, but "Opa" and "Oma" are German words. Do you also use it in English?

Trisia

Senior Member

București Romanian

Thomas Tompion said: I don't know many people who put lol in their sentences, so I'm deeply suspicious that you've got a case of textwrite here. Certainly I've never encountered the expressions in ordinary written or spoken British English. Click to expand...

You might want to check this thread. Those words are quite peculiar. I like them, but my non-native ears never heard them before.

GreenWhiteBlue

Banned

The City of New York USA - English If I heard someone refer in English to "oma" and "opa", I would assume that the first language of the grandparents themselves was not English, and that the immigrant grandparents had taught their grandson to call them by the terms that were most familiar to themselves. I have a friend here in New York who called his German-speaking grandmother "Oma". I also have a number of friends who refer to their Italian-immigrant grandmothers as "Nonna", and I know any number of people who speak Spanish at home and who call their grandmothers "Abuelita". However, this use of foreign words by some English speakers does not mean that it would be a common thing for native English-speaking grannies to be called by the terms used for grandmothers in foreign countries.

Chaska Ñawi

Senior Member

an old Ontario farmhouse Canadian English My Greek friends all have Omas and Opas, but it's as Green White Blue says: people here use these terms, or ones like Nono and Nona, or Babi, to refer to their own grandparents only. In the abstract, these words don't come up. C

catwomen999

Member

Canada, English Opa and Oma are used in greek. Usually grandma and grampa or something like that are used in english. Usually most family have different names for grandparents for example, for me grandma is "baba" and grampa is "pepe" pronouced as paypay. You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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