Dove and Stang

The title does not refer to some kind of German catchphrase nor is it the name of a legal firm, although it's pretty good if you're looking to set up in the lawyer business.

"Dove" is not the past tense of "to dive", thousands of illiterate authors notwithstanding.  It is a bird. The past tense of "to dive" is "dived".  As in, he dived into the novel in spite of not being able to conjugate verbs.

Today I came across something quite shocking, considering that the novel I was reading was really well written--pure escape fiction, but that is almost all I read nowadays with my mushy brain.  The word in question is "stang", the past tense of "to sting".  It is a word I am sure Texans will take to with joy.  Since I can talk Texan, even I plan to use it.  It just fits something fierce:

"Wahl, by dang, thet wasp jist stang the bejesus outta mah butt!"

In case you are morbidly interested, the past tense is "stung", but I'll bet you knew that.  I think "stang" should be up there with other Texan words such as fahr (fire), flars (flowers), awl (oil and all), and my all-time favorite, "Jeet yit?"