Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Trivial Revelation

In my recent post about Nabokov's Stories, I don't think I made reference to VN's penchant for big words.  I had to look up quite a few of them, and in the process learned the following piece of information:

The word decal is short for decalcomania.

How could I not have known that a word I've heard all my life is just a shortened form of a much longer, much stranger word?  Decalcomania.  Just look at it.

Bonus Links
I just discovered this.  And even better, this.

1 comment:

M said...

And many times, too, he Russifies English worlds. Thanks for the links!

Just found your blog, and I'll make it a habit to come back.