a vanishing-looking kind of man Mr. Turner's presence is so insignificant that he seems about to vanish.
watchin' de job watching and waiting for Tea Cake to die.
Well, if she must eat out of a long-handled spoon, she must A long-handled spoon has a long history in the English language. Chaucer uses it in The Squire's Tale: "Therfore bihooeth hire ful loong spoon/That shall ete with a feend." It also occurs in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors: "He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil." Joe has become almost evil in his illness, and Janie must treat him with all caution — with a long-handled spoon, something that she would use if she were to dine with the devil. References to a long-handled spoon are treated in most standard books of quotations.
Y'all really playin' de dozens tuhnight trading insults, usually in a predictable way, but the insults are based on exaggeration of personal traits and involve derogatory statements about members of each other's family — often, someone's mother.
yo' royal diasticutis a sarcastic reference to Janie's buttocks.
you didn't have gumption "Gumption" is shrewdness in practical matters; common sense.
You got me in de go long opening for a proposal of marriage. Janie has captivated Tea Cake, and he will "go long" through life with her.
