Explain "Two has three, and four has three, but three has only one".
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1$\begingroup$ Were they able to solve the riddle? $\endgroup$– David GFeb 23, 2016 at 23:34
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2 Answers
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I believe you are talking about
Homophones
"Two" also has "to" and "too", "Four" also has "for" and "fore", but "three" has no homophones.
answered Feb 23, 2016 at 15:00
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$\begingroup$ English isnt my first lenguaje, But Three sound like Tree, not sure if that is the same. $\endgroup$ Feb 23, 2016 at 19:48
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6$\begingroup$ @JuanCarlosOropeza In US English, "three" is pronounced /θɹi/ (with a voiceless dental fricative at the beginning), but in some dialects, there is what is known as th-stopping, the phenomenon you describe. $\endgroup$ Feb 23, 2016 at 19:56
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$\begingroup$ I always though there was a slight difference between four and for. Just checked in wiktionary, turns out the en-US pronunciation of both is the same! $\endgroup$– njzk2Feb 24, 2016 at 2:08
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6$\begingroup$ In the NATO phonetic alphabet, three is pronounced "tree" and four is pronounced "fo-wer", so if you find this riddle confusing then maybe you're meant to be a pilot! $\endgroup$ Feb 24, 2016 at 3:09
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1$\begingroup$ @njzk2 There's probably a difference in some regional accent somewhere, but for most dialects of English they're homophones. $\endgroup$– PharapFeb 24, 2016 at 8:59
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you are talking about
heterographs
2 has two, too, and to.
4 has four, for, and fore.
and three has only three. this also means that 1 would have two (one, and won);and 8 would also have two (eight, and ate).
p.s.
if you speak German then nine has two as well(nine and nien)
p.s.s. I really like this puzzle. I have tried it out on my siblings. we had lots of fun.
