- English translation
The only thing stopping you from dancing is that your sleeves are too short.
- Literal wording
Nothing is keeping you from the dance but the shortness of the sleeves.
- Meaning and lesson
The image is of someone who stays out of the dance, and the only reason given is that their sleeves are too short. Since a dancing outfit is expected to have long sleeves, the short sleeves stand for not having what the activity demands, so sitting out becomes a matter of being unequipped.
Applied more broadly, the saying describes holding back from something because one is unable to do it. It identifies incapacity, rather than free choice, as the reason a person refrains, attributing the abstention to a lack of means or ability instead of to preference.
- When it is used
Apply it when someone refrains from an activity because they lack the ability or means it requires; the saying names that inability as the cause.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: The only thing stopping you from dancing is that your sleeves are too short.