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Even so, W is often said, in a non-linguistic sense, to be either a vowel or a consonant. Clearly in two it is a vowel.

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A Vowelsonant?


"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world" -Michael Crichton
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Originally Posted By: Faldage
Even so, W is often said, in a non-linguistic sense, to be either a vowel or a consonant. Clearly in two it is a vowel.


maybe. it depends on how it's taught -- 'w' is called either a semi-vowel, a semi-consonant, or a glide... the sound of the 'w' in two is a back glide related to the sound 'oo' (as in boo). some will still insist that the only words (in English) where the w is a vowel are cwm and crwth (from Welsh). then again, some will now insist that the 'w' in two is (part of) a dipthong.

ymmv.

edit: I found this claim online, fwiw:
I found two word where the 'W' comes before the partner vowel. (1) geo·duck also gwe·duc (gōō'ē-dŭk') n. A very large, edible clam of the Pacific coast of northwest North America, (2) two [too]

Last edited by tsuwm; 04/24/09 03:14 PM.
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Originally Posted By: latishya
I just read a riddle and I am not ablre to understand its answer.
Quote:

Q. How many letters are there in the correct answer to this question?

A. Four. - Explanation: Four is the only number with the same amount of letters as the word it is from.


Can someone explain how the answer can be deduced?
I've reread this thread a few times and riddle + aswer still ring no bell at all. To me it looks like empty nonsense too in spite of all efforts to give it a meaning.

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The question is "How many..." This means the answer will be a number. So it boils down to what number has the same number of letters as the number it means. The only number in English that satisfies that condition is four. In, e.g., German the answer could be vier or, if you spell it with a ue rather than ü, fuenf would also work, so there wouldn't be a unique answer in German. Dunno about Nederlands.

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Ah...I see. That is, now I see what I do not understand about this riddle.
To me it appears that the question is not "How many....", but " How many letters are there in the correct answer to this question?" I cannot follow the logic of it. It's not a matter of language. When I translate it it's just the same. Must admit I'm no good with riddles or crypto's in general.

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it's clever, in an "I'm smarter and cleverer than you" pain in the ass annoying kind of way.


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Why, that's the first time I've heard lack of understanding called 'clever '. I try to understand.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, et, but I believe, Bran, that the "clever" appellation is referring to the riddle, not to you. I think he's trying to say that someone who would ask such a riddle is trying to be [or at least perceived as] clever, when s/he is actually a pain in the ass annoying... :0)

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exactly! thanks, two, and sorry Bran, for the misunderstanding. ((hug))


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