[Candy] "That's the boss's son," he said quietly. "Curley's pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. He's a lightweight, and he's handy."

"Well, let him be handy," said George. "He don't have to take after Lennie. Lennie didn't do nothing to him. What's he got against Lennie?"

Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck

The adjective “handy" usually refers to something conveniently near, a useful object or someone skilful with their hands but in this instance it seems that handy refers to someone who is prone to using physical violence. We learn that Curley is a bit of a boxer “He done quite a bit in the ring”, so he knows how to throw a punch and defend himself in a fight.

Online some sites suggest that handy denotes physical strength, and some suggest that Curley is skilful in picking fights.

However, none of the dictionaries I checked; The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), Oxford Dictionaries (EOD), Collins (CED), and Cambridge Dictionary (CD) tell me that handy refers to a an aggressive person who uses their fists or hands. In Italian the term manesco , which is derived from the noun mano (hand), refers to someone who is quick to use their hands in a violent manner. For example, a mother who slaps her children is a una mamma manesca, and a husband who beats his wife is un marito manesco.

I'm guessing this is an example of semantic shifting but I have never come across this secondary meaning before.

• Am I mistaken? Do the three instances of "handy" in the excerpt above refer to Curley as being skilled with his hands. Was it meant to be ironic?

• Is it an example of American dialectal usage? Is it an example of Candy's idiolect?

• What would have been the the standard American English equivalent of handy, meaning a person prone to violence, in the US in the 1930s?

[Candy] "That's the boss's son," he said quietly. "Curley's pretty handy. He done quite a bit in the ring. He's a lightweight, and he's handy."

"Well, let him be handy," said George. "He don't have to take after Lennie. Lennie didn't do nothing to him. What's he got against Lennie?"

Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck

The adjective “handy" usually refers to something conveniently near, a useful object or someone skilful with their hands but in this instance it seems that handy refers to someone who is prone to using physical violence. We learn that Curley is a bit of a boxer “He done quite a bit in the ring”, so he knows how to throw a punch and defend himself in a fight.

Online some sites suggest that handy denotes physical strength, and some suggest that Curley is skilful in picking fights.

However, none of the dictionaries I checked; The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), Oxford Dictionaries (EOD), Collins (CED), and Cambridge Dictionary (CD) tell me that handy refers to a an aggressive person who uses their fists or hands. In Italian the term manesco , which is derived from the noun mano (hand), refers to someone who is quick to use their hands in a violent manner. For example, a mother who slaps her children is una mamma manesca, and a husband who beats his wife is un marito manesco.

I'm guessing this is an example of semantic shifting but I have never come across this secondary meaning before.

• Am I mistaken? Do the three instances of "handy" in the excerpt above refer to Curley as being skilled with his hands. Was it meant to be ironic?

• Is it an example of American dialectal usage? Is it an example of Candy's idiolect?

• What would have been the the standard American English equivalent of handy, meaning a person inclined to physical violence, in the 1930s?