He kept the letter in his scrapbook. He thought about (crumbling, crumpling) itMaestro, the envelope, please!
up, but he wanted to keep it as a reminder and a motivator.
Correct! Crumble means to break into crumbs.So, does crumple mean to break into crumps? Well, not exactly.Crumple means to mash up, wrinkle, crush. For a letter, it means to wad it up. Etymologists consider crumple to be related to wrinkle, and both to derive long ago from words that described the wrinkles created by a grin or a snarl. Please, do not snarl at the letter.
Oh, you might remember from Mother Goose the line about "the cow with the crumpled horn." That "crumpled" came from a word meaning "curved," and it is related (isn't etymology exciting!) to krummhorn -- "a wind instrument of the Renaissance with a curving tube and a double reed."Aren't you glad you asked?
That reminds a bit of wreak and wreck.
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