Another new proverb

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter
> Former SEAL on CNN: "In the SEAL teams we say, 'Two is one; one is none.'"

It is an old saying, That two is one; one, none ; and three, Roguery.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wSTuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22old+saying%22#search_anchor

This saying may be unrelated to the SEAL motto, but it is entertaining.

> In other words, if you have only one, expect it to fail. That's why two
> helicopters went after Bin Laden. One failed.
>
> GB takes this back (probably) to 1994-95, almost unanimously in military
> contexts, and, indeed, especially among SEALs.  I've encountered it before,
> but only within the past four or five years.
>
> GB suggests that the phrase was originally part of a children's counting
> rhyme. I guess they lived in a high-crime area.
>
> JL

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