Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Left-handed.
- adjective Awkward; clumsy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
clumsy - adjective
left-handed - adjective back-handed
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
MIND MELD: The Best Genre-Related Books/Films/Shows Consumed in 2009 (Part 2) 2009
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But it's more than just his cack-handed stewardship of RBS.
Hugh Muir's diary 2012
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
MIND MELD: Books We Love That Everyone Else Hates (and Vice Versa) 2010
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Then, unshakable in the belief that his rule was buttressed by a legitimacy not enjoyed by other authoritarian leaders journalists regularly come away from meeting him saying he is like no other regional leader, Bashar was initially unwilling to order the same level of force to be deployed against protestors as his father was, instead sending mixed messages of restraint to Syrian security forces whose cack-handed efforts only served to accelerate events.
James Denselow: Assad: The Man Who Can Bring Down the Syrian Regime James Denselow 2011
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
MIND MELD: What You Should Know About Speculative Fiction and Mainstream Acceptance (Part 1) 2009
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
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But in the case of the many celebrities who have been so vociferous in their condemnation of this ultimately cack-handed and not even especially successful from a story point-of-view practice, are we quite so sympathetic?
Christopher Beanland: How it Feels to Have Your Phone Hacked Christopher Beanland 2011
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But in the case of the many celebrities who have been so vociferous in their condemnation of this ultimately cack-handed and not even especially successful from a story point-of-view practice, are we quite so sympathetic?
Christopher Beanland: How it Feels to Have Your Phone Hacked Christopher Beanland 2011
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
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He's also ed-in-chief of near-future sf webzine Futurismic, a learning fictioneer and poet, a reviewer of books, music and concerts, a cack-handed third guitarist for a fuzz-rock band, and in need of a proper haircut.
chained_bear commented on the word cack-handed
Left-handed; ham-handed, clumsy, awkward.
Favorite usage: "I never met such a cack-handed jackass in all my born days." 1955 M. ALLINGHAM Beckoning Lady vi. 91
February 2, 2007
yarb commented on the word cack-handed
I like this term, too. But what's the etymology of the cack part?
August 29, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word cack-handed
Oh dear. I went and looked cack up in the OED. Please see this list, the word cack, and all left-handed people please accept my apologies for this word that I found charmingly archaic until I looked at where it came from. *hangs head*
On a positive note, the usages for the term cack-handed don't mention excrement:
Left-handed; ham-handed, clumsy, awkward. Hence cack-handedness.
1854 A. E. BAKER Gloss. Northants. I. 365 Keck-handed, awkward, left-handed. 1859 N. & Q. VIII. 483 If a man, at hay time or harvest, holds his fork with his left hand lowest, they say, ‘Ah! he's no good! he's keck-handed!...’ 1893 DARTNELL & GODDARD Gloss. Wiltshire 21 Cack-handed, cag-handed. 1955 M. ALLINGHAM Beckoning Lady vi. 91, I never met such a kack-handed jackass in all my born days. 1959 P. MCCUTCHAN Storm South iv. 52 He would... moan about the cack-handedness of Bacon (which was nonsense, for Bacon was a first-rate steward). 1961 Spectator 22 Sept. 384 An insanely slothful or cack-handed publican. 1964 S. JEPSON Fear in Wind i. 17 A series of kack-handed manuvres... designed to keep one end of a stick on the ground. 1967 J. POTTER Foul Play x. 125 When he saw the ball going the wrong side of him, he lunged his hockey stick out behind him... ‘Just thought I'd try a bit of your cack-handed stuff.’
August 29, 2008
reesetee commented on the word cack-handed
Vindication at last. Where's plethora? ;-)
August 29, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word cack-handed
Just to clarify, I never liked the term to mock left-handers, or used it that way. I remember, when I was a kid, people (siblings) making fun of left-handers, and thinking, "That's stupid." In the sense of "can't you think of anything better to make fun of them for?"
Edit: And I certainly never meant to call anyone shit-handed! *hork*
August 29, 2008
plethora commented on the word cack-handed
Feels good.
August 29, 2008
reesetee commented on the word cack-handed
Oh, don't worry, c_b--I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly didn't take it that way. It is an odd-sounding word. Besides, I'm sure you could think of something better to make fun of me for. I mean, you have a whole list already. :->
August 30, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word cack-handed
Reesetee! Shame! That's not a list making fun of you. It's merely recording for wordieternity the things that are said about you. Or, you know, near you.
By the way... you aren't cack-handed, are you? ;)
August 30, 2008