butterfingers
noun (idiomatic, informal)

- a person who drops things they are carrying or trying to catch, a clumsy person

Cambridge  Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Butterfingers” has been in the language from at least the early 17th century as evidenced by this passage from ‘The English Housewife’ by Gervase Markham, first published in 1615:

“First, she must be cleanly in body and garments; she must have a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and ready ear; she must not be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted - for the first will let everything fall; the second will consume what it should increase; and the last will lose time with too much niceness.”

Many later instances of “butterfingers” found in print relate to cricket, which remains the main ball-catching sport in England. The term is often employed as a friendly teasing remark when someone fails to successfully make a straightforward catch.

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BUTTERY PHRASES

- bread-and-butter letter = a letter or note written to follow up on a visit; a thank-you note

- bread-and-butter issue = an issue or problem that directly affects individual people and their families on a daily basis (used primarily in relation to politics)

- (well,) butter my butt and call me a biscuit! = a colloquial  expression of surprise (primarily heard in the US)

- to want (one’s) bread buttered on both sides = to want more than is practicable or than is reasonable to expect

- butter wouldn’t melt (in someone’s mouth) = said of someone who appears innocent or reserved, when in fact they may be capable of doing bad things

- to butter up = to be nice to someone, by flattery or other means, before delivering bad news or asking for a favour

- fine words butter no parsnips = just because someone promises something does not guarantee that they will do it

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SYNONYMS

- awkward or uncoordinated in movement or in handling things

accident-prone, all fingers and thumbs, all thumbs, blundering, botched, botching, bovine, bumbling, bungling, BUTTERFINGERED, BUTTERFINGERS, cack-handed, careless, cloddish, clodhopping, clownish, clumpy, clunking, elephantine, floundering, fumbled, fumbling, fumbly, gangling, gangly, gauche, gawkish, gawky, graceless, ham-fisted, ham-handed, heavy-handed, hulking, inadept, indelicate, klutzy, like a bull in a china shop, loutish, lubberly, lumbering, lumpen, lumpish, lurching, maladroit, mutton-fisted, oafish, ponderous, puddingy, rough-and-tumble, rough-hewn, shambling, shuffling, slouching, stumbling, ungainly, ungraceful, wooden

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

"Dr Willard Wigan is no BUTTERFINGERS. He has made his name as the ‘world’s greatest micro artist’ for mind-boggling creations that are invisible to the naked eye. You can be amazed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YOdH2wqL9M "

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