Hamfisted was used on another board recently (without the hyphen, BTW) and I had to look it up...there's only one hit on OneLook. It's a UKism, but there's also a USism mentioned as a synonym that I'm not really familiar with, though I think I've heard it once or twice along the way:

>from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

ham-fisted MAINLY UK adjective (US ham-handed)
doing things in an awkward or unskilled way when using the hands or dealing with people:
The report criticizes the ham-fisted way in which complaints were dealt with. <

Anybody use, or familiar with, either of the forms? Does the OED offer anything more?

Say rather, "Commonwealthism", since It is also widley used here, a long way from BriTonyA. It's fisted here, too, not handed.

And where, pray tell, is "here"?

>And where, pray tell, is "here"?


Zild, of course. I'm not new here, as my new hybrid handle is designed to show.

I use "hamfisted" or "heavy handed." I've never heard "ham handed."

ham-fisted here in the heartland

When I was a kind I used to hear the phrase "don't be such a ham bone" (hambone?) or "you ham bone!" a lot, in the same context. In fact, the expression was so popular that comedian Soupy Sales actually named a character "Hambone" on his show. Don't hear it much anymore, though.

FWIW, Merriam-Websters has both ham-fisted and ham-handed, a hyphen in the latter as well.

"Ham-fisted" is certainly more common in Britain, but I have also heard "ham-handed" as well (although not for a large number of years, I have to say.)

In Midland England, where I lived for twenty years, the usual expression for clumsiness was, "caggy-handed." (Older folk said, "cack-handed" but that was looked on as rude by the surprisingly prudish younger generation!) In the north of England, I have heard, "that's a left-handed way of doing it!" According to the context of its use, this phrase can mena either clumsy, or "not the easiest way to go about the job."

I've heard and used both -fisted and -hand, albeit infrequently. isn't, or maybe wasn't Ham a common proper name at one point in history? or a place name? as in "Farmer Giles of Ham"?

"Ham", in a topographical context, is Saxon for "living place" (or some such) - not just "home", but place where an extended famiily or group live. So a lot of English place-names end in -ham; Twickenham, Beckenham, Trentham, etc etc, ad infinitum.

And is hamlet (not the play) also related?

and also ham omelette?

Oh, sorry, that was a bit ham-fisted...