Later in the day, when a man is passing a neighbour’s house, he will say to the one sitting inside or outside his house:
Ojali O! or Ol’ o moi O! You are alive (exist or sit), or, You are there. Answer: Najali O! or Nal’ oni O! I am alive, or I am here.
If the resident sees the visitor first he says:
Oy’ oni O! You have come here. Answer: Nay’ oni O! I have come here.
If the visitor stays chatting for a little time, he says on leaving:
Nake O! I go. And the other responds: Oke O! You go.
If a man is ill he is greeted thus:
Okeli boti O! You are a little better (bolau is understood).
After his illness the greeting is: Okeli bolau O! You are good, i.e. You are better. And the answer to the first is: Nakeli boti O! I am a little better; and to the second: Nakeli bolau O! I am well.
To leave out the O! is for the greeting and response to lack cordiality, and the emphasis on the O! and the tone in which it is uttered are indicative of the feeling those greeting one another have for each other. Bwanda is the word used in greeting a superior, and the answer is Bika (these words have lost their meaning); but a superior greets an equal with the same salutations as an inferior does an equal, i.e.: Ojali O! Obimi O! Oy’ oni O! etc.