Currently no linguistic link is to be seen between the lexemes głuchy ‘deaf’ and głupi ‘dumb’ – with only, perhaps, the exception for incidental similarity in the sounding of their initial syllables. However, the stereotype which equals ‘deaf’ with ‘dumb’ is not at all unknown to Polish culture. A brief reflection can help us notice a certain semantic similarity between the two: ‘deaf’ is a sensory handicapped man, and ‘dumb’ is a mentally handicapped one. Dictionary queries yield further connections involving, e.g., the two words appearing in the same lexical contexts. The current paper aims to demonstrate this semantic affinity, based on an analysis of old and contemporary texts, of those fixed phrases which contain the two lexemes, and finally on etymological investigation. My goal is not only to reveal the actual linguistic links between these words, but also to show what impact these links had or could have had on the formation of stereotypes concerning the deaf and the stupid. Another important point is the consideration of the sources of the Polish stereotype about the stupidity of the deaf, whether it developed on home ground, or was influenced by other cultures. Linguistic corpora will also help find out if modern texts reveal that this stereotype persists, or not, in Polish mentality. Lastly, the paper encourages a reflection on the conceptualization of what concerns the senses, of what concerns the mind, and what our way to verbalize it is.