In this mini episode, you will learn the interesting English phrase “all thumbs.”
Episode 470 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the interesting English phrase “all thumbs.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi, this is Shadi, from Iran. And you’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 470 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you an interesting phrase. The phrase is “all thumbs.” All thumbs.
That’s a-l-l, t-h-u-m-b-s. All thumbs.
One thing I should point out right at the beginning is that the word thumb is spelled with a b, but it is never pronounced with a b. We never pronounce the b in thumb. So, it is “all thumbs.” Thumbs.
What does this phrase mean, and how do we use it?
“All thumbs” means “not being good at using your hands to do things, not having a lot of skill with your hands.”
Here is an example of a situation where someone might use the phrase all thumbs:
“I once tried to learn to play the guitar, but it didn’t go very well. I think I’m all thumbs.” I think I’m all thumbs. In other words, I think I’m just not very good at using my hands in a very careful way. I’m not very good at using my hands to do very precise things.
I could also say something like, “Don’t ask my friend to repair something with tools, because, unfortunately, he is all thumbs.” He is all thumbs. He’s just not good at using tools to repair something or to do some very precise thing.
Notice that when we use this phrase, “all thumbs,” we always—or maybe almost always—use it with the verb to be. So, we say that somebody is all thumbs or somebody was all thumbs.
I’m not exactly sure I understand why we use this phrase. I mean, our thumbs are very useful fingers. They are very useful parts of our bodies. Because we have thumbs, we can do all kinds of amazing things with our hands, things that other animals just cannot do. So, maybe you might think that having only thumbs on your hands—having all of your fingers be thumbs—would make you very good at using your hands.
But that’s not how we use this phrase. When we say that somebody is all thumbs (when we say that all of their fingers are thumbs), we are saying they’re not very good at using their hands in a careful, precise way. They’re very clumsy with their hands.
And that is “all thumbs,” an interesting and common phrase that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 470 of Everybody ESL. Remember: If you have any questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Shadi recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!