After all, to be two-faced is to be false, two-timing is a nasty way to double cross, and taking two bites at a cherry is another way to talk about spending twice as much time on something as is necessary. Two-legged mare is an old nickname for the gallows, while two can play at that game is a grim observation about how one person can copy another's negative behavior to the detriment of the first gamester.

We close with a term that may not be familiar, but which is too good to pass up. Two more and up goes the donkey is an old cry from the fairgrounds. The fellow working the crowd of rubes promises that as soon as enough pennies are collected—two more—his donkey will perform high up on the ladder or pole. The man never gets two more pennies, and the donkey never performs.