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I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me what 言やいー refers to. All I know is that 言 has something to do with speaking or words, but that alone doesn't help. Is it slang?

The entire phrase I'm trying to decipher is: 食えないなら食えなんって言やいーのに

So far I only understand the parts about being unable to eat.

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  • If it helps at all, you might want to look at this entry on やい. Just from the line given, it almost sounds like someone is telling someone else: "if you can't eat (this), you could have just said so (in the first place)". But... is there any way there could be more context given for this phrase? And, welcome to the forum ^^
    – summea
    Commented May 28, 2013 at 5:54
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    That makes sense, actually, given the context. Thank you!
    – Storm Echo
    Commented May 29, 2013 at 16:18

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I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this is a contraction of 言えばいい, similar to how it works in しなきゃ (ければ→きゃ). ～ばいいのに is a common phrase so I'm pretty sure this is correct.

I'm assuming also that 食えなんって is either a mistyping or a dialect with which I'm not familiar.

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    +1. Searching on Google, I found pages backing up 〜えば → 〜や, for example on Weblio.
    – user1478
    Commented May 28, 2013 at 7:09

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