What does “co dwie głowy, to nie jedna” mean in Polish?

Żart przy wymianie koła i podnoszeniu taczek

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A2 Polish listening practice · Standard Polish · Picked for people who know a little

💡 Did you know?
co dwie głowy, to nie jedna
Polish proverb with a twist
“two heads are better than one” — literally “what two heads are, one isn’t”

Co dwie głowy, to nie jedna is the Polish “two heads are better than one.” The shape is a proverb pattern you’ll meet again — co X, to nie Y, “X is a different thing from Y” — and the sketch plays on it: one man says it after the two of them manage to lift a wheelbarrow, and the other looks at their scalps and answers obydwie łyse — “both bald.”

The vocabulary around it is workshop Polish: koło wymienione (“wheel changed,” using the short participle Poles love for done jobs), nie mam siły (“I haven’t got the strength”), podnieś je sama (“lift it yourself”). One grammar curiosity: taczki (“wheelbarrow”) is plural even for a single one, like drzwi (“door”) and spodnie (“trousers”) — which is why the sentence says podnieść je, “lift them,” about one barrow.

From P&A↗ on YouTube.Watch original

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A2 Polish listening practice video?

89.2%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Polish words
Most of the words in this video are common Polish words.

How common in written Polish

78.4%
Top 1,000
89.2%
Top 2,000
97.3%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Polish

80.6%
Top 1,000
97.2%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in Polish.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.

taczki
2×
Not in top 5,000
(brand) taczek — hand trucks
łyse
1×
Not in top 5,000
bald
wymieniamy
1×
Not in top 5,000
we are replacing
mhm
1×
Not in top 5,000
affirmative sound
oby
1×
Top 5,000People say this a lot
I hope that
co dwie głowy, to nie jedna
1×
two minds are better than one

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-PL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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