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English speakers say “Silence is golden,” but we don’t mean it. After all, would chat rooms have become so popular if we didn’t feel the constant need to voice our opinions?

For What’s Golden in Japanese …

I imagine that our cultural attachment to the idea of silence has Puritan roots. But silence also serves the most un-Puritan of motives. For instance, lawbreakers are notorious for saying “No comment.”

Of course, silence doesn’t always indicate evasiveness. The following expressions give a sense of the possibilities inherent in silence:

言い落とす (iiotosu: to leave unsaid, neglect to mention)
     to say + to fail (to do something)

With 言い落とす, the omission of words is accidental. Someone forgets to say whatever needs saying. Originally, 落とす meant “to drop,” so it’s as if a person has dropped words. The situation is somewhat like a cell phone call that’s breaking up, only 言い落とす happens out of absentmindedness.

言い残す (iinokosu: to leave unsaid)     to say + to remain

With 言い残す, the omission of words can be either intentional or accidental.

A Sample Sentence with 言い残す …

言い難い (iigatai: difficult to say, inexpressible)     to say + difficult

On the Yomi of 難 …

言い渋る (iishiburu: to hesitate to say)     to say + to hesitate

I “hesitated” with this breakdown, because 渋 has such disparate meanings, including “sour” (e.g., unripe fruit), “subdued,” “reluctant,” “to hesitate,” and “to have diarrhea”! Interestingly, when English speakers refer to “diarrhea of the mouth,” they mean quite the opposite of “hesitate to say.”

For More on the Meaning of 渋 …

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