And If Irene Wasn't Enough

Tropical Storm Katia is forming.

I mention that because whoever picked the name "Katia" out of a baby book of names apparently didn't know about Russian diminutives. Russian diminutives are analagous to nicknames that are formed from people's formal names. For instance, a girl named Josephine may be called Joey or JoJo, a boy named Frederick may be called Freddie or Fred.

Russian diminutives are a lot more extensive.* For some of the more popular names, there are a pantload of diminutives.

I am mentioning this because Katia (or Katya) is a diminutive of Ekaterina and a variant/diminutive of that name is: Katrina.**

I'm not saying that means anything, but if Tropical Storm Katia ends up becoming another Category 5 killer storm, well, you read it here first.

Elsewhere, Typhoon Talas is expected to make landfall in Japan by Friday.
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* Sasha is the diminutive for Alexander and Alexandra.
** So is Katyusha, better known for other reasons.