"T" for "T"akes "T"wo "T"o "T"ango"

I actually jotted down many words for “T” . I didn’t do this for any letter. Trust , Tea , Toffee , Tradition , Theist , Tired , Time, Turmoil , Turmeric. Gosh . After writing down all words and banging my head on each one and a turmoil of about twenty minutes ,a friend of mine during chatting suddenly said “Its takes two to tango” and voila here I am with a “t”rendy title and amazing “t”opic. Huh !! Too many t’s there and too many T’s in my title too. Today I am passing on “t”oo many t words for free!

By far it takes two to tango is my favorite idiom. It actually means something in which more than one person or other entity are paired in an inextricably-related and active manner, occasionally with negative connotations.The tango is a dance which requires two partners moving in relation to each other, sometimes in tandem, sometimes in opposition.The phrase originated in a song, Takes Two to Tango, which was written and composed in 1952 by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning. (source : “wiki”)

In simple words “Takes Two to Tango” means involvement of two people which results in a good or bad result. It is some times similar to -“A coin has two sides” which we generally use when we know that two people are equally guilty and are efficient partners in their own crime. Today I remember the time I first used this idiom. I used to be enthusiastic and energetic when ever I got a chance to learn a new word or phrase. I still am an enthu-cutlet when it comes to English. If a person uses a new word I am all ears . I used to read dictionary just to trace new words. It was the best weekend time pass. Anyway coming back to the topic, we had many happening triangle love stories in high school. A boy “X” loved “Y” but then shifted gears suddenly to “Z”. Now Z was not half as good as Y. We all became investigators and tried finding reasons for this sudden behavioral change of X. “Z” acted innocent as if she was not aware of the reason for X-man’s behavioral change. We trusted “Z” as she was part of the group. Then one fine day I suddenly was promoted to be the leader of the girls search squad. Unfortunately one of our teachers was also involved as she knew the whole thing and hence I couldn’t say no.

I was given an offer which I couldn’t refuse 

So I rolled up my sleeves and was all set to prove that X-man was  guilty. I wanted “Z” to come out clean. I followed them where ever they went. It was hectic . I even thought for a while that I should have got my self trained at PQRS detective agency or read Sherlock Holmes little more. Finally one fine day I found out that X man was trying to kiss Z in a vacant class room and she was not retorting. In fact I over heard the conversation and it seemed like she was provoking him! It was a big bummer to me. I took cautious and stealthy steps so carefully that one would think I was a cat. Of course I was one curious cat but in this XYZ case I was not killed !

Image source :“spy girl”

When I revealed the facts to my friends they refused to believe. We didn’t have camera phones or sound recorders then .I didn’t have much evidence but slowly they too observed and believed what ever I told. That day I used the idiom for the first time. “It definitely takes two to tango” you know. 

Few of them had  big question marks scrawled in bold all over their faces. I explained them the meaning of it. Every one loved it 🙂

My teacher was impressed by my efforts and no I was not given any gallantry award . She was so impressed that she promoted me to a higher level and asked me to keep an eye on whole classroom and report her if there is some thing malicious going. I wanted to shout ” Why me ?!! ” then .

Actually they wanted every one to concentrate on studies as we were about to enter SSC (Xth std- The final class of the school) . I obliged and shortlisted few names and handed it over to madam feeling bad about what I did. Our Sister (head mistress) counselled many from the class and warned them that next time consequences will be hard. Stories didn’t end. They continued in hushed tonnes and were always under the wraps :p


Just before our final exams I saw X and Z walking hand in hand in the school ground while having an ice gola. My friend asked me , “You think they will marry ?”. I replied , ” They will definitely marry but with each other or not that I am not sure . It always takes two to tango!” I winked. She laughed. While every one was trying to write their love stories we were busy using idioms , savoring berries, kulfis and golas! It definitely doesn’t take two to tango for what ever we did 😛

By the way do you all know what is 2 2 2 2 2 2 (In alphabets – two to two to two two ). It is a homophonous phrase. Hope you know what is a homophone. If you don’t know when will google come useful 😛 ?

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of “rise”), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. (source : wiki)

Two to two to two two came from this – A  railway conductor, when asked how long will the train stay at the station, answered “From two to two to two two” (from 2 minutes to 2 o’clock until 2 minutes past 2 o’clock or 1:58 to 2:02). When asked the same question about a second train that will be at the station for the same period, he answered “From two to two to two two, too”. The next day, he was asked the same questions but was less sure about the exact times. His answers were “From two to two to two to two to two two” and “From two to two to two to two to two two, too” (both trains will arrive at some point between 1:58 and 2:00, then will leave at some point between 2:00 and 2:02).  🙂

List of interesting homophonous phrases are- “here”

A small poem by me which has all first words starting with “T” 😀

” Tulip flowers in the field swaying due to air.
  Tresses of hair dancing on the face so fair.
  Tangled hair was caressed by him gently.
 Tousled was his shirt which she held subtly.
  Their lips locked and the kiss was heavenly!”