木村：そのことなら、部長に相談した方がいいですよ。
田中：今日は部長、虫のいどころが悪いようなので、やめて
おきます。
Mushi no idokoro ga warui
Kimura: Sono koto nara, buchoo ni soodan shita hooga ii desu yo.
Tanaka: Kyoo wa buchoo, mushi no idokoro ga waruiyoo na node, yamete okimasu.
Kimura: With a case like that, you'd better consult the head of the department.
Tanaka: I don't think I'll bother; he seems a bit touchy today.
Mushi no idokoro ga warui means to be in a bad mood, to be touchy.
There are many idioms in Japanese involving the word mushi (worm). Long ago the Japanese believed that there was a worm inside every human being's body that affected his/her physical condition, consciousness and emotions in various ways. Mushi no idokoro ga warui means that the worm is in a bad po- sition inside the body, causing the person to be in a bad mood. Similar expressions include kigen ga warui.
I'm sure many of our readers have been to see the movie Schindler's List. In the movie, the head of the concentration camp shoots prisoners as if he were playing a game. Toku ni kare no mushi no idokoro ga warui toki wa, minna ga biku-biku shite ita (Particularly when he was in a bad mood, people were fearful), as they never knew if they might be the next victim.
Seeing this atrocity, Schindler says something to the effect that if this man had been born during a time of peace, he would have been just a normal human being.
Of course, it ffoes without savini? that dare ni demo, mushi no idokoro no warui toki wa aru deshoo (Every- one gets into a mood sometimes), but there are people who let it show and other people who don't. My younger brother is always calm and composed, whatever pains he's gone through, kare ga mushi no idokoro ga warui no wo mita koto ga nai (I've never seen him in a bad mood).
Feelings are what make us human, but it is wrong for people to blame their inability to control those feelings on the mushi inside them.
The writer is a professor at Yokohama National University.