Roman hands and Russian fingers

English

Etymology

Jocular modification of roaming hands and rushing fingers.

Noun

Roman hands and Russian fingers pl (plural only)

1. (humorous or euphemistic) A tendency towards unwanted sexual touching.
   • 1986, Stephen King, It:

     He might turn in test papers that were utterly blank—or blank except for a large, decorative question-mark—and Mrs. Douglas had discovered it was best to keep him away from the girls because of his Roman hands and Russian fingers, but he was quiet, so quiet that there were times when he might have been taken for a big lump of clay that had been crudely fashioned to look like a boy.

   • 2002, Lon Leatherland, A Town Called Woodbridge, page 51:

     "Let's just say he had Roman hands and Russian fingers," she said. "I made him take me back home."

   • 2005, Cleo Hicks Williams, Gratitude for Shoes: Growing Up Poor in the Smokies, page 366:

     I described them as foreigners — with Roman hands and Russian fingers. If that's all they wanted, they could just hit the dusty trail. I double-dated some, but decided I wasn't going out by myself with a boy again.