All throughout the Kawabata Shōtengai shopping arcade in Hakata are these Hakata-ben Banzuke banners featuring a common regionalism. The one pictured above says ezui (えずい). I had never heard the word used in daily conversations myself, so I asked my wife if she knew what it meant. A transplant to Fukuoka, she didn’t. From the illustration, I suspected that it meant “frightening or scary” and consulted the Hakata no Miryoku website, which confirmed my hunch.

Hakata no Miryoku introduced a number of common words and phrases from the local dialect which I have translated below:

1．「いぼる」は「はまる、埋まる」こと

Iboru means stuck or buried.

ぬかるみに足を取られた時などに使います。

You can use the verb when your foot is stuck in mud or slush.

2．「えずい」は「こわい、ひびる」こと

Ezui means scary.

怖がりの人のことをえずがりと呼びます。

Ezugari refers to a chicken or scaredy-cat.

3．「さっち」は「必ず」のこと

Sacchi means certainly, without fail, surely.

さっちがこの店に行くね。

Sacchi-ga kono mise ni iku ne.

By all means go to this shop.

4．「そうつく」は「歩き回る」こと

Sōtsuku means to walk around/about.

何処ば、そうついて来たとね。

Doko-ba sōtsuite kita-to ne?

Where have you been walking about?

5．「どげん」は「どんなに、どんな風に」のこと

Dogen means donna-ni, donna-fū-ni, that is how or in what way.

どげんしたと。

Dogen shita-to?

How have you been?

Also:

どげんしょったや、生きとったとや

Dogen shotta-ya, ikitotta-ya?

6．「なおす」は「片付ける、収納する」のこと

Naosu, which means to repair in standard Japanese, means to put away or put back in Hakata-ben. For the longest time, I believed that naosu was standards Japanese. That’s how commonly used the word is here.

これなおしとって。

Kore naoshite.

Put this away/back.

7．「ねまる」は「腐る」こと

Nemaru means to rot, go bad, or spoil.

これ、ねまっとう～よ。

Kore, nemattō-yo

This is rotten. This has gone bad.

8．「はらかく」は「怒る」こと

Harakaku means to become angry.

はらかいとっと。はらかいとくさ。

Harakaitotto. Or, Harakaitoku-sa.

I’m angry. I’m pissed off.

9．「ふうたんぬるい」は「のろま、遅い、ゆっくりしている」こと

Fūtan nurui means “Noruma, osoi, yukkuri shiteiru.”

あいつに任せとったら日の暮れるばい。ふうたんぬるかろうが。

Aitsu-ni makasetottara, hi no kurerubai. Fūtan nurukarōga.

If you leave it to him to do, it’ll grow dark [before he finishes]. He’s a dawdler. He a lollygagger.

10．「ほがす」は「穴をあける」こと

Hogasu means to make a hole in something.
その板に棒ば通すけん、ほがしとって。

Sono ita ni bō-ba tōsu-ken, hogashitotte.

A pole will pass through that board, so make a hole in it.