Russian short names

[mixturaverborum.livejournal.com]

Why the short name of Vladimir is Vova/Volodia?
What is derivation rule?

10x
mb

Just curious.

[giantantattack.livejournal.com]

I was just reading a sentence in my textbook that struck me as odd.

"Да нет, что ты, у него не растяжение!"

It's a statement by a woman about her friend who is currently in the hospital. Conceptually I know what it means, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the best way to translate it into English. Could someone help?

Also, is "у него не растяжение" a grammatically acceptable construction? I don't recall ever having seen не + the nominative (or possibly accusative) case of a noun. Could it be a typo of "нет растяжения"?


Edit: Thanks for the help, guys!

Russian lyrics transliteration

[loki-fledermaus.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I'm asking for a favour. I'm a huge Regina Spektor fan and have recently discovered one of her rare songs where she sings in her mothertongue. My Russian isn't good enough to understand exactly what she's singing. Could someone listen and possibly type out what she sings in the middle section of this song called 8th Floor? You don't even need to translate it as I need the practice. Also I hope you'll all get into her music, as she is amazing.

Thank you very much

Eddus

here it is