"One of a kind" means unique, but "two of a kind" implies quite common

xia@lemmy.sdf.org to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – -9 points –
5

'Two of a kind' means a pair that are just alike. It does not speak to the commonality of the item or persons.

I've not heard two of a kind used like that, but it's interesting to hear 'of a kind' scales logarithmically.

I thought “two of a kind” meant that they were the same. Like you and your friend are two of a kind, liking the same things, having similar personalities, etc.

Yes, and such pairings occur way more frequently than "one of a kind".

The saying "two of a kind" is saying that the similarity of the pairing pairings are uncommon enough to stand out from a random pairing.

But at the core it is a comparison of similarities, not about frequency. One of a kind just means there isn't anything similar.