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  What it means

  Literally “a bad dancer is impeded by the hem of her skirt,” this is the standard form of a well-known Polish proverb meaning that an incompetent person will always find an external excuse for failure rather than acknowledging their own shortcomings. The real problem is not the skirt’s hem — it is the dancer’s lack of skill. For example: “Mówi, że klęska to wina pogody — złej tanecznicy zawadza rąbek u spódnicy” — “She says the failure is the weather’s fault — a bad workman blames their tools.”

  English equivalent

  A bad workman blames his tools.

  Vocabulary

  • złej — bad (dative feminine of zły)
  • tanecznicy — dancer (dative singular of tancernica — female dancer)
  • zawadza — gets in the way, impedes (3rd person singular of zawadzać)
  • zawadzać — to get in the way, to obstruct (imperfective)
  • rąbek — hem (diminutive of rąb — border, edge)
  • spódnicy — skirt (genitive of spódnica)

  Grammar note

  Like 'przeszkadzać,' the verb 'zawadzać' takes a dative object for the person impeded. Here 'złej tanecznicy' is dative feminine — the dancer is the indirect object who experiences the hindrance. The subject is 'rąbek u spódnicy' (the hem of the skirt) in the nominative. The genitive 'spódnicy' (of the skirt) modifies 'rąbek.'

  Cultural context

  This is the more traditional and widely cited form of the proverb. It appears in Polish dictionaries of proverbs and is recognized across all generations. The use of a female dancer as the protagonist reflects the proverb's historical context in Polish folk culture. The English equivalent 'a bad workman blames his tools' is a perfect match in meaning and usage.

  Intermediate

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