Tou ni Ochizu Kataru ni Ochiru (問うに落ちず語るに落ちる – The Tongue Is Ever Turning to the Aching Tooth)
Tou ni Ochizu Kataru ni Ochiru
問うに落ちず語るに落ちる
When people are asked about their secrets by others, they are wary and reluctant to talk about them, but when they begin to tell their own stories, they tend to spill the beans.
人に問い詰められると用心して話そうとしない秘密も、自ら語り始めるとうっかり漏らしてしまうことがあります。
Such a situation can be described as tou ni ochizu kataru ni ochiru (問うに落ちず語るに落ちる) in Japanese.
そのような状況を「問うに落ちず語るに落ちる」と表現することができます。
Since tou (問う) means “to ask”, ochi/ochiru (落ちる) means “to spill out,” zu (ず) is a negative suffix, and kataru (語る) means “to tell,” the literal meaning of tou ni ochizu kataru ni ochiru means “when one is asked, one does not spill out, when one tells, one spills out.”
「問う」は “to ask”、「落ち/落ちる」は “to spill out”、「ず」は否定語、「語る」は “to tell” を意味するので、「問うに落ちず語るに落ちる」は文字どおり “when one is asked, one does not spill out, when one tells, one spills out” という意味になります。
You can also say only the latter part, kataru ni ochiru (語るに落ちる).
後半部分の「語るに落ちる」だけで使われることもあります。
