More 'Nita. I took Juanita to breakfast this morning (busy morning), and listened hard for more Nita-isms. I got no metaphorical gems. But I picked up things she says that are uncommon these days:
"Not hardly". This is an ironic way of saying "no". As in, "Mom, are you going to run in the Orange Bowl Marathon with Mary in January?"
"Over yonder". Pronounced "O-vah Yahn-duh". Could mean "over there", where "there" is usually some distance away, and that's the way she uses it. But it could mean "beyond the grave", which locus may not be as far away as we think, so that the use of "yonder" is a hopeful reference: we hope that beyond the grave for ourselves is quite some distance away, unless we are the Apostle Paul.
I have never heard her use "over yonder" to refer to the place where we go after death, but she certainly would understand that meaning because it occurs in many old Southern hymns.
She knows I'm posting this, so I am not betraying any confidences.
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