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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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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?
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Say rather, "Commonwealthism", since It is also widley used here, a long way from BriTonyA. It's fisted here, too, not handed.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And where, pray tell, is "here"?
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>And where, pray tell, is "here"?
Zild, of course. I'm not new here, as my new hybrid handle is designed to show.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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I use "hamfisted" or "heavy handed." I've never heard "ham handed."
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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ham-fisted here in the heartland
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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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.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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"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."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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"?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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"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.
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