I also think that smaller scopes/function bodies help to reduce variable name length. When you write small functions that solve a single problem, the variable names tend to be very concise. This approach helps me try to keep my code under 80 columns, and I feel that it greatly improves the readability.

Regarding the verbose identifiers, I recall the first time I started looking at Objective C (and NextStep I believe) while attempting to get into iPhone/iOS development. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. IIRC there were function names that were damn near 80 characters long. I played around with it and built some simple iphone apps, but I just couldn't take it.