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Hello, I just got this "Award" translated to german and wondered. I checked the translations. "Never 2 without 3". Never heard of that.

After some research, I found that the proverb is french and italian, and found its way to the Brits as well. Even into the title of one of the Tuesday Murders by Agatha Christie. So, I should read more of the classics, instead of MZB, OSC, TP or JKR

But it's definitely not German. We say "Aller Guten Dinge sind Drei". So I'll change that.

Some sources say that an appropriate english version would be "Third time is a charm" - but others disagree. This proverb means that I failed 2 times and expect that it works at the third attempt.

Robo

Hi! I'm Italian and I can tell you that the meaning in our language is not only "you failed twice and expect it will work the third time", but, more generally, that if something (good or bad) has already happened twice, you don't have to be surprised if it happens a third time. And we say this proverb when it happens a third time
Example: I invite a friend of mine for dinner and he rejects once, then twice. When I invite him for a third time and he rejects again my other friends could comment "oh never 2 without 3".
I hope this helps you out with the German translation!

"Never two without three" doesn't make any sense to me and I'm English.

"Third time is the charm" (US) or "Third time lucky" (UK) are better translations.

We say "geen twee zonder drie" (no two without three) in Dutch, though it's more common in Flanders.

It does seem to be used in English, but not a lot at present: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?c ... tive=true#

KongKing123 wrote: ↑11 December 2020, 16:30 We say "geen twee zonder drie" (no two without three) in Dutch, though it's more common in Flanders.

It does seem to be used in English, but not a lot at present: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?c ... tive=true#

How many of those English uses are simply discussing Agatha Christie?

Giordano Bruno 1974 wrote: ↑11 December 2020, 13:38 "Never two without three" doesn't make any sense to me and I'm English.

"Third time is the charm" (US) or "Third time lucky" (UK) are better translations.

Don't those two have totally opposite meaning?

Tulivuori wrote: ↑13 December 2020, 20:51

Giordano Bruno 1974 wrote: ↑11 December 2020, 13:38 "Never two without three" doesn't make any sense to me and I'm English.

"Third time is the charm" (US) or "Third time lucky" (UK) are better translations.

Don't those two have totally opposite meaning?

Do they?

If it is going to change, it would need to be something that is three successes in a row. Third time lucky/the charm would not make any sense to me for 3 wins in a row.

For a more common term for three successes, I would name in Hat trick.

Cheery Dog wrote: ↑14 December 2020, 04:35 If it is going to change, it would need to be something that is three successes in a row. Third time lucky/the charm would not make any sense to me for 3 wins in a row.

For a more common term for three successes, I would name in Hat trick.

I'm not sure that is meant to mean three consecutive successes. Our Italian friend seems to think otherwise.

I confirm that it's the meaning in Italian
Or better, it could be BOTH positive and negative, but definitely not only negative!