it takes two to tango
- 1Certain situations require the active cooperation of both people, and in a conflict both sides usually share responsibility for what went wrong.
Like a dance that collapses the moment one partner stops moving: neither side succeeds or fails alone.
Their marriage failed for reasons on both sides; it takes two to tango, after all.
He tried to pin the whole quarrel on his coworker, but it takes two to tango.
Note
A dance floor turned into a verdict: the line comes from the 1952 song Takes Two to Tango, by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning, and its force lies in the image of a dance no one can perform alone. It often works as a retort. When someone protests "He started it!", the reply refuses to let one side carry the blame. More gently, it can also be a plea for help with a shared task.
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Origin
This phrase comes from the song "Takes Two to Tango," written and composed in 1952 by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning.