two left hands | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Lackingdexterityin either hand; beingambilevousI've never been good atsewing; I guess I've gottwo left hands.1828,Mrs Margaret Dods [pseudonym; Christian Isobel Johnstone],The Cook and Housewife's Manual: Containing the Most Approved Modern Receipts for Making Soups, Gravies, Sauces, Ragouts, and All Made-dishes; and for Pies, Puddings, Pickles, and Preserves; Also, for Baking, Brewing, Making Home-made Wines, Cordials, &c. ..., 3rd edition, Edinburgh:Oliver & Boyd,→OCLC,page37:There are awkward grownup persons, having, as the French say,two left hands, whom no labour will ever make dexterous carvers;1847,William Hogan,Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries, volume 1, Hartford: Silas Andrus and Son,→OCLC,page142:[Orestes] Brownsonis one of those characters. He hastwo left hands, and was never known to do anything right; whatever he touches he is sure todespoilanddisfigure.1905,R. E. Francillon, “Left-Handed Elsa”, in H. Chalmers Roberts, editor,Tales from "Blackwood": Being the most Famous Series of Stories ever Published Selected from that Celebrated English Publication(1), volume 1, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company,→OCLC,pages1–2:"Oh Max, it must be true what father says, and I've gottwo left handsinstead of one; what a scolding I'm in for!"1995, Jason R. Taylor, Jacob Birnbaum,I Kept My Promise: My Story of Holocaust Survival, 1st edition, Jason R. Taylor Associates,→ISBN,page73:So, when the factory issued a requisition for ten workers, thecommandantpicked the worst candidates--sick people like me, and thoseschlemielswithtwo left handsand two right feet, who he knew couldn't get the job done.2002, Marian Annett,Handedness and Brain Asymmetry: The Right Shift Theory, New York: Psychology Press,→ISBN,page23:Ambidexteritymeans equal skill with both hands, as contrasted with the term “ambilevous” meaning equally unskilled with both hands (or described as having “two left hands”).; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seetwo,‎left,‎hands.1958June, Benoytosh Bhattacharyya,The Indian Buddhist Iconography, 2nd edition, Calcutta: K. L. Mukhopadhyay,page151:They sit in the Vajraparyahka attitude and show in the two right hands theboonand the arrow drawn up to the ear, and in thetwo left handstheUtpalaand the bow.

Examples:

EN: My mother always told me: "Ursel, you have two left hands"... And two left legs.
ES: Mi madre siempre me dice: "Ursel, eres una manazas ... y muy torpe."
EN: Oh, we wouldn't want to postpone your happiness just because Wesley happens to have two left hands.
ES: Madre, es hermoso.
EN: That guy has two left hands.
ES: Este tiene dos manos izquierdas.
EN: Your daughter has two left hands.
ES: Tu hija tiene dos manos izquierdas.
EN: I think I've got two left hands.
ES: Soy un destrozón, eso creo.
EN: Hey, I'd have two left hands!
ES: ¡Tengo dos manos izquierdas!
EN: Hannah's got two left hands. Sometimes I miss a full-time servant... EDITH: but we don't have money to pay servants.
ES: Algunas veces echo de menos un sirviente de tiempo completo... pero no tenemos dinero para pagar sirvientes.
EN: I think I have two left hands.
ES: Creo que tengo dos manos izquierdas.
EN: The waiters Italians have two left hands!
ES: ¡Los camareros italianos tienen dos manos izquierdas!
EN: Made with two left hands.
ES: Hechos con 2 manos izquierdas.
EN: I don't know. I... I kind of have two left hands.
ES: No lo sé... yo... tengo como dos manos zurdas.
EN: That's because he has two left hands!
ES: Eso es porque tenía dos manos izquierdas.
EN: Luckily she had two left hands.
ES: Afortunadamente, tenían dos manos izquierdas.
EN: You have two left hands.
ES: Tienes dos manos izquierdas.
EN: When she came back to the store with two left hands, I knew I had to make a decision.
ES: Cuando regresó a la tienda con dos manos izquierdas, supe que tenía que tomar una decisión.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).