Oh. A riddle. Those hadn't been much in vogue for… well, quite some time, he thought. There had been a vague resurgence a little while back, but his main thought there had been irritation at the way some angels had tried to apply it to their paperwork.
He hadn't exactly paid all that much attention to them when they had been in vogue, though. Some of those who'd wanted to bring his attention to one had, in fact, occasionally needed to write the thing down and thrust it on top on whatever he had been paying attention to before he'd even realised they were trying to give him a riddle.
So the sphinx was hardly endearing herself to the Metatron by, from his point of view, casting doubts on his ability to write. Perhaps they were only mild, but it still irritated him. "I can write," he said, and would have left it if it hadn't struck him that perhaps it was a clue. One piece of paper thrust in front of him had said "LISTEN", after all, and the pronunciation had been important there. So, if writing was important, perhaps it was something about the look of the words.
None in infinity, one in a… If he had been at a desk, he would have been tapping his fingertips by now. It seemed almost to suggest vowels, but there were three 'i's in infinity, and he wasn't quite sure whether people were currently counting 'y' as a vowel or not. Either way, it wasn't vowels.
He didn't get out a piece of paper. Perhaps some people did that sort of thing, but not him. He was perfectly capable of looking at the words without visual aid, thank you, even if that was the important thing. If 'a' was one, 'iota' was two, 'alpha' was three, and 'this room' was unknown, then was was the common factor?
He mulled over it for a little while, turning it over in his head, and, failing to find evidence to the contrary, said, "As the common factor towards the count appears to be that they have letters that are circular, it would appear that there are two in 'this room', since 'this room' has two 'o's." He eyed the sphinx with no small degree of wariness.
Re: (The answer would be two.)
He hadn't exactly paid all that much attention to them when they had been in vogue, though. Some of those who'd wanted to bring his attention to one had, in fact, occasionally needed to write the thing down and thrust it on top on whatever he had been paying attention to before he'd even realised they were trying to give him a riddle.
So the sphinx was hardly endearing herself to the Metatron by, from his point of view, casting doubts on his ability to write. Perhaps they were only mild, but it still irritated him. "I can write," he said, and would have left it if it hadn't struck him that perhaps it was a clue. One piece of paper thrust in front of him had said "LISTEN", after all, and the pronunciation had been important there. So, if writing was important, perhaps it was something about the look of the words.
None in infinity, one in a… If he had been at a desk, he would have been tapping his fingertips by now. It seemed almost to suggest vowels, but there were three 'i's in infinity, and he wasn't quite sure whether people were currently counting 'y' as a vowel or not. Either way, it wasn't vowels.
He didn't get out a piece of paper. Perhaps some people did that sort of thing, but not him. He was perfectly capable of looking at the words without visual aid, thank you, even if that was the important thing. If 'a' was one, 'iota' was two, 'alpha' was three, and 'this room' was unknown, then was was the common factor?
He mulled over it for a little while, turning it over in his head, and, failing to find evidence to the contrary, said, "As the common factor towards the count appears to be that they have letters that are circular, it would appear that there are two in 'this room', since 'this room' has two 'o's." He eyed the sphinx with no small degree of wariness.