Englishall thumbs
Meaning: Uncoordinated and awkward, especially with one's hands.
Example: “I'm all thumbs when it comes to sewing buttons.”
Equivalents in other languages
Swedish: Att ha tummen mitt i handen Literally: To have the thumb in the middle of the hand
Origin: Descends from a much older proverb recorded in John Heywood's 1546 collection: "when he should get aught, each finger is a thumb" — the image being that if every finger were shaped like a thumb, awkward and stubby, a person's hands would be useless for anything requiring dexterity. "All fingers and thumbs" carried this idea through the 1800s, with an 1870 issue of The Echo already contrasting it with education: "your uneducated man is all thumbs... and what education does for him is to supply him with clever fingers." The shorter "all thumbs" eventually won out as the standard modern form.
More English idioms
- all wet Wrong to the point of being silly or unbelievable.
- have bats in one's belfry Harmlessly crazy or eccentric.
- beat a hasty retreat To run very fast in the opposite direction.
- beat someone to the punch To do something before someone else does it.
- behind the eight ball In a difficult situation or position.
- hit someone below the belt To act unfairly.
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