1. Horrorshow (‘хорошо’ or ‘khorosho’ meaning ‘good’)

“I gave him one real horrorshow kick on the gulliver and he went ohhhh, then he sort of snorted off to like sleep…”

The Nadsat word for ‘good’ comes directly from the Russian word for good. Anthony Burgess purposely took liberty mis-transliterating the word, however, so that it would be spelled with the English word “horror.” This is important as its usage throughout the novel quite literally goes from good to bad. Gradually, “horrowshow” acquires an ironic meaning, revealing Alex’s satisfaction with violent films and horrific acts of torture.

2. Gulliver (‘голова’ or ‘golova’ meaning ‘head’)

I had something of a pain in the Gulliver so I had to sleep.”

Like ‘horrorshow’, ‘gulliver’ is an extremely anglicised version of the Russian word golova, and therefore looks like British slang at first glance. The word is perhaps an allusion to Jonathan Swift’s classic Gulliver’s Travels, giving the English-speaking reader a tauntingly false sense of familiarity. Although Gulliver was a giant in a land of pygmies – was this a sly depiction of big, scary Soviet culture taking over the West?