73728
I think "一触即発" can be used to refer to the personality of a person and means
**"quick to anger or get emotionally upset"**. _If it cannot, please just say
"no it cannot" and no reason to read further._

This is how I think it can be used:

**talking directly to the person** :  
「さすが一触即発の性格でしょうね。えと、なのに、ふつつかな私を許してください。申し訳ありません。」 ( _You have such a
personality that is quick to anger. Um, anyway, please make allowances for my
incompetence. I have no excuse._ )

**talking with someone about a third person who is not present (Tanaka-san)**
:  
「田中さんは一触即発の人だと思わない。」( _Do you think that Tanaka-san is quick to anger?_ )

  1. Does it make sense to even refer to a personality as 一触即発? Does it sound funny, make a native speaker laugh? Or, a personality cannot be defined that way?
  2. Should it be "一触即発の人" or "一触即発の性格がある人"?
  3. Either way, it is very informal / humorous way among friends to describe someone who easily gets upset?
  4. 人柄 instead of 性格?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-04T06:32:27.597
73725
2020-01-05T02:31:49.733
2020-01-05T02:31:49.733
4835
4835
question
set-phrases
use 一触即発 to refer to someone's personality? someone who "easily gets upset"?
I think it is a bit awkward to use 「一触即発」for describing one's personality
which is _short-temper, getting upset easily, etc._ since the expression is
normally used to describe that **something dangerous/unwanted** will be
triggered on the spot when an action taken.

I guess the word more suitable is「瞬間湯沸かし器」: instaneous water boiler or
「すぐカチンとくる」: easily losing temper for what you imagine.

If you want to use 「一触即発」, the sentence came up to me is
「〇〇さんは喧嘩早いので、いつも一触即発の事態になる」: _Since 〇〇 are bellicose, we are always getting
into a powder keg._

However, it seems the phrase「一触即発の人」is not so odd to me. Probably it could be
used between your friends for making fun of them because of their humorous
behaviour. So, it depends.

I think「一触即発の性格」would be better than「一触即発の人柄」since 「人柄」is basically used to
describe one’s personality affirmatively.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-04T15:25:58.437
73728
2020-01-04T15:25:58.437
34735
73725
answer