wampus
n.— «Wampus or cat-a-wampus. Also: Whampus—the panther. A mythical animal used as a bogie to frighten children. Ala.» —by Harry Harrison Kroll in George Peabody College for Teachers A Comparative Study of Upper and Lower Southern Folk Speech (Martin, Tennesee) Aug., 1925. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Sarah from St. Augustine, Florida, asks if there’s a word for the accent we inherit from our parents. One useful term is idiolect, the unique blend of language each person speaks, and the handing down of speech habits from elders is called...
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...