Stupefication

[Randy Alexander]

In 4th grade at a Catholic school, I used "stupefication" in a class
assignment, ignorant to the fact that it should have been
"stupefaction".  The seminarian teaching the class held up my paper
and laughed at me (what a jerk), offering no explanation as to the
reason behind this strange morphological form.

Google tells me I'm not the only one using this word -- it's even in
many headlines.

But I still have no idea what is going on morphologically.  Anyone
care to elucidate?

--
Randy Alexander
Xiamen, China
Blogs:
Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
Chinese characters: http://www.sinoglot.com/yuwen
Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog

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