Tell me more ×
Russian Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Russian language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite

I am having a hard time trying to get the exact meaning of "криворукий" because the online dictionaries that I tried refuse to translate it. Does it have anything to do with "косорукий"?

The original sentence is: Монтажники - криворукие уроды: вместо того, чтобы просверлить аккуратную дырочку и завести провод в щиток, они просто оторвали щиток от стены и в образовавшуюся щель пропихнули провод.

share|improve this question
What dictionaries have you tried? Please, link them in your question. – Alenanno♦ Nov 10 '12 at 18:37
I tried lingvo.ru and translate.google.com – v'-5o-1's73- Nov 10 '12 at 18:38
А еще говорят "руки из задницы растут" – user978 Nov 10 '12 at 19:04
"Ruki iz zhopy" is the same of it. – user984 Nov 10 '12 at 19:20
I suggest to close this as general reference. If I ask even more complicated questions in Eng.SE, I get banned for a week. lingvopro.abbyyonline.com/ru/Translate/en-ru/… – Anixx Nov 10 '12 at 21:30
show 1 more comment

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

It's something in English would mean butterfingered. Here, криво means crooked and рукий is the adjective for hand: handed. So, it expresses a lack of hability to physically perform something.

share|improve this answer
up vote 3 down vote

Обычно не говорят "косорукий" - это словотворчество. Слово "криворукий" - это прилагательное, образованное в результате слияния двух слов "кривой" и "руки". Это негативная характеристика человека, который плохо выполняет определенную работу руками или пальцами. Если он делает что-то неверным образом, нерационально, некачественно, то его обзывают "криворукий". При этом, например, ученого выдвинувшего неверную теорию не назовут криворуким. А вот если ученый разбил чашку, то видевший это может обозвать ученого криворуким.

We don't use the word "косорукий". The word "криворукий" is an adjective formed by two words: "кривой" and "руки". And it's a negative characteristic of a person, who does some work (by hand or by fingers) badly. When he does something wrong, in irrational way or produces something of poor quality he is called "криворукий". It's important to understand, that it's only characteristic for people who made something by hand. For example, nobody can say "криворукий" about the scientist who proposed wrong theory. But someone can say "криворукий", when he see that this scientis has broke his cup.

share|improve this answer
Can you say "неуклюжий" instead? – v'-5o-1's73- Nov 10 '12 at 19:23
Besides "косорукий" is a valid word according to mr. Ожегов: dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ogegova/90478 – v'-5o-1's73- Nov 10 '12 at 19:27
Which isn't the case for "криворукий" because there is no entry for it in the most dictionaries. – v'-5o-1's73- Nov 10 '12 at 19:35
1  
"неуклюжий" is synonym for "криворукий", but there is the difference between them. For example, we can say "неуклюжая походка", but we use "криворукий", when we speak about work, which can be done by hand. About "косорукий" you're right. Vocabulary doesn't lie. "криворукий" and "косорукий" are not synonymous. "косорукий" is physiological characteristic, it's about someone who has one hand shorter than another. But "криворукий" is personal characteristic. – user969 Nov 10 '12 at 20:26
Good answer. :) – Alenanno♦ Nov 10 '12 at 21:00
up vote 0 down vote

those who can not fix/construct/build/make some stuff... comes from "кривые руки".

share|improve this answer
1  
Welcome to Russian Language and Usage Beta! Usually we prefer longer and more elaborated answers on short answers. If you can improve your answer by adding detail, context, examples, and backing up with references, this would increase your answer's quality. Poor answers risk being down-voted and subsequently removed. – Alenanno♦ Nov 10 '12 at 18:38
up vote 0 down vote

If a person did something bad / awry / inaccurately, then they say about him "криворукий". Is a colloquial expression. This expression is made up of the words "curve" and "hand".

share|improve this answer
How do you know it is colloquial? – v'-5o-1's73- Nov 10 '12 at 21:03
   
It is not colloquial. – Olga Nov 11 '12 at 12:38
1  
@Olga: I think you are too harsh to Kit. There are gradations of being colloquial. Криворукий is more colloquial than, say, неловкий. Wikipedia: Colloquialisms include words (such as y'all, gonna, and wanna), phrases (such as old as the hills, raining cats and dogs, ... Raining cats and dogs on the axis of colloquialism (разговорности) will be close to криворукий. :-) – farfareast Nov 11 '12 at 17:18
1  
@farfareast Let Kit provide a decent dictionary that calls this word colloquial, and I will agree with you and remove my comment and thank him for extending my knowledge. According to my understanding, this is a normal word. It may not be polite to call someone криворукий, but it is not the same as "colloquial". – Olga Nov 11 '12 at 17:45
@Olga: In its direct sense of имеющий кривые руки как физический недостаток, криворукий may indeed be a perfectly normal word. However, in its figurative sense of неловкий, неумелый, it does appear to me more lower-register than either неловкий or неумелый. – Andriy M Nov 25 '12 at 2:26

protected by Alenanno♦ Nov 10 '12 at 20:58

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.