I moved From St. Louis, Missouri to middle Tennessee when I was 6 years old. By the time I got to third grade, I had the accent down, and I wasn't yet used to people being dumb "down here".
It seems like we were supposed to be writing a story about a lion, and I asked the teacher how to spell "ferocious". I thought I had it right, but I was going to ask her just to make sure. But when I asked her, she just looked at me. She said, "furious?" I said, "No, ferocious." She looked at me. I can't remember what else she said, but it left me with the impression that I'd dreamed it up and there was no such word.
Now. I have come up with a fe