73749
I have seen the literal translation of the phrase 「つかみどころがない」, somewhere along
the lines of being either slippery, vague or elusive. I encountered this
phrase

> 立花｛たちばな｝さん **つかみどころない** んだよなぁ…

I cannot seem to extend the translation into this sentence. The context
suggests that it means the person is kind of hard to talk to (awkward
silence), but maybe that's irrelevant for this sentence.

**UPDATE** : I wrote "literal" translation, but really it's not literal and
it's simply the definition given by dictionaries. Apologies for the confusion.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-05T23:06:28.173
73747
2020-01-06T19:03:24.747
2020-01-06T11:54:13.640
18582
26607
question
meaning phrases
Meaning of つかみどころがない on a person
> have seen the literal translation of the phrase 「つかみどころがない」, somewhere along
> the lines of being either slippery, vague or elusive.

I do not see how those can be called the "literal" translations.

「つかみどころがない」 comes from the phrase 「掴{つか}むところがない」. 「掴む」 means to "grab",
"catch", "grasp", "take hold of", etc.

「つかみどころがない」, therefore, literally means "there is no part to grasp".

**When that is said about a person, it means that you have no idea what s/he
really has in mind and/or there is a mystery about him/her** , which is why
the dictionaries would give the definitions of "vague", "slippery", "elusive",
etc.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-06T00:35:15.313
73749
2020-01-06T00:35:15.313
73747
answer
The phrase つかみどころがない [has its own entry in EDICT](https://www.edrdg.org/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1MDJ%A4%C4%A4%AB%A4%DF%A4%C9%A4%B3%A4%ED%A4%AC%A4%CA%A4%A4)
where it is listed as "vague; fuzzy; elusive; slippery". That's where those
translations you are seeing coming from. Nearly every J->E dictionary site or
application out there is cribbed from EDICT.

The [Goo
dictionary](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E6%8E%B4%E3%81%BF%E6%89%80/)
has an entry for 掴みどころ, which has 掴みどころない人 as an example:

> つかむ部分。また、そのものの本質や真意を押さえる手がかりとなる点。とらえどころ。つかまえどころ。「話の掴み所をさがす」「掴み所のない人」

Literally translating, the tsukamidokoro is the point in a material which
provides the clue to pinning down its true essence or meaning. In other words,
it's something we can latch onto for understanding.

My old 1993-dated 国語辞典 from 講談社 has it briefly as 「ここぞという、たいせつな点。手がかり。」as a
sub-entry under 掴み.

A 掴み所のがない人 is someone whose actions and words reveal nothing we can connect
with for an understanding.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-06T16:48:21.340
73767
2020-01-06T19:03:24.747
2020-01-06T19:03:24.747
1266
1266
73747
answer