Aonghas Crowe

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Shuddup!

The other day, a girl in one of my classes exclaimed: “Sahshii!”, which caused another girl to make a quizzical look and ask, “What on earth does that mean?” With half of the class coming from outside Fukuoka Prefecture, this sort of thing happens from time to time: one of the girls will speak in the dialect she has grown up only to be greeted with either blank stares or derisive laughter.

“Sahshii!” means urusai (煩い, 五月蝿い, literally “May flies”), which is standard Japanese for “noisy”, “troublesome”, or “persistent”. Another common word is yakamashii (喧しい) can also mean “noisy”, as well as “up in arms” and “raising a clamor” or “strict” and “finicky, picky”. Lucky for my students, I am neither urusai or yakamashii. I wish I could say the same about them.

A note about the following: while some prefectures may use the same word or phrase, the way they say it will vary greatly due to the altered intonation.

  Hokkaidô

1. Hokkaidô

   やがましい!

   Yagamashii!

 

  Tôhoku

2. Aomori

   さしね!

   Sashine!

3. Iwate

   やがまし!

   Yagamashi!

4. Miyage

   すんずねぇ!

   Sunzuneh!

5. Akita

   やがまし!

   Yagamashi!

6. Yamagata

   うるせえ!

   Uruseh!

7. Fukushima

   うっしゃし!

   Usshashi!

 

  Kantô

8. Ibaraki

   うっせえ!

   Usseh!

9. Tochigi

   うるせー!

   Uruseeh!

10. Gunma

   うるせー!

   Uruseeh!

11. Saitama

   うるせー!

   Uruseeh!

12. Chiba

   うるせ!

   Uruseh!

13. Tôkyô

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

14. Kanagawa

   そーぞーしー!

   Sôzôshî!

 

  Chûbu

15. Niigata

   うるせぁー!

   Uruseah!

16. Toyama

   やかましー!

   Yakamasii!

17. Ishikawa

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

18. Fukui

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

19. Yamanashi

   やたかしー!

   Yatakashii!

20. Nagano

   うるせー!

   Uruseeh!

21. Gifu

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

22. Shizuoka

   うるせー!

   Uruseeh!

23. Aichi

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

 

  Kansai

24. Mie

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

25. Shiga

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

26. Kyôto

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

27. Ôsaka

   じゃかましー!

   Jakamashii!

28. Hyôgo

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

29. Nara

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

30. Wakayama

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

 

   Chûgoku

31. Tottori

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

32. Shimane

   やかまし!

   Yakamashi!

33. Okayama

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

34. Hiroshima

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

35. Yamaguchi

   しろしー!

   Shiroshii!

 

   Shikoku

36. Tokushima

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

37. Kagawa

   やかまし!

   Yakamashi!

38. Ehime

   やかましー!

   Yakamashii!

39. Kôchi

   うるさい!

   Urusai!

 

   Kyûshû

40. Fukuoka

   しぇからしか!

   Shekarashika!

  しゃーしー!

   Shahshii!

   しからしい!

   Shikarashii!

   しゃーしいちゃ! (筑豊)

   Shahshiicha! (in the Chikuhô region)

41. Saga

   しぇからしか!

   Shekarashika!

   やぐらしい!

Yagurashii!

42. Nagasaki

   せからしか!

   Sekarashika!

   やぐらしか!

   Yagurashika!

   やかまっさよ!  (五島)

   Yakamassayo!  (Gotô Islands)

43. Kumamoto

   せからしか!

   Sekarashika!

44. Ôita

   せせかましー!

   Sesekamashii!

   うるせーっちゃ!

   Uruseehcha!

45. Miyazaki

   せからしい!

   Sekarashii!

   せわし!

   Sewashi!

46. Kagoshima

   やぞろし!

   Yazoroshi!

   やぜろしい!

   Yazeroshii!

 

  Okinawa

47. Okinawa

   かしまさん!

   Kashimasan!