Something strange...

[stroppygoblin]

In honour of bears return, I felt a new riddle was in order...

The following prose seems normal, but there is something strange about it - can anyone see what it is? :confused:

"Roland was walking back from a visit down at Calla Bryn Sturgis on Sunday night. A busy day’s traffic had had its noisy run and without many folks in sight, his solitary soul got along without having to stop to grasp a hand, or talk; for a chary man out of In-World this was a situation that sat kindly with him. And so coming to sit with his group, a booming bass drum and sounds of singing, Roland, walking towards that group, saw a young woman, back toward him, just finishing a long soulful oration. Susannah swung around and said, Hi Roland! Hi my Dinh! drop your Gunna, and join us in singing commala, it is in a song for joy that our group will sing. Commala !!"

[Stebbins]

The name of this thread immediately made me think of Ghostbusters. Sorry, totally unrelated, just felt like sharing :)

[Jon]

A whole lotta commas and not a lot of periods.
Many prepositional phrases?

Semi-colons?

And it seems to contradict itself:

"Sunday night."
A busy day’s traffic

A busy day’s traffic----------- without many folks in sight



his solitary soul---------- situation that sat kindly with him
And so coming to sit with his group ( a man happy in solitude..goes to a group??)



saw a young woman-----------, back toward him

( Like in an M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening? she was walking backwards to him??)
LOL...now I am yanking your chain!

[stroppygoblin]

Ah a contender! Step right up sir, behold the booth of puzzles and enigmas...

Your guesses are interesting but are not correct, please lay your money down and try again...

it's interesting that Stebbins was first to respond to this thread. Amazing coincidence in fact

[Br!an]

In honour of bears return, I felt a new riddle was in order...

The following prose seems normal, but there is something strange about it - can anyone see what it is? :confused:

Alliteration?Something Strange
"Roland was walking back from a visit down at Calla Bryn Sturgis on Sunday night. A busy day’s traffic had had its noisy run and without many folks in sight, his solitary soul got along without having to stop to grasp a hand, or talk; for a chary man out of In-World this was a situation that sat kindly with him. And so coming to sit with his group, a booming bass drum and sounds of singing, Roland, walking towards that group, saw a young woman, back toward him, just finishing a long soulful oration. Susannah swung around and said, Hi Roland! Hi my Dinh! drop your Gunna, and join us in singing commala, it is in a song for joy that our group will sing. Commala !!"

[stroppygoblin]

Another contender! make room, make room, come forward sir, I didn't quite hear your guess....

Aha!, no another wrong answer, but don't give up, keep going!

[Jon]

Clearly, I am too sober for further pondering.

[stroppygoblin]

wow it's quiet around here...

maybe a clue would help...

Normally people cannot see the wood for the trees, in this puzzle you would definitely see a wood, but you would never see any trees.

[Jon]

*snickerHe said wood.snicker

[Shannon]

Got it.

[stroppygoblin]

Shannon is indeed the winner!

I will hold off posting the answer for a couple of days more.

[Iwritecode]

Shannon is indeed the winner!

I will hold off posting the answer for a couple of days more.

Waiting...

[stroppygoblin]

Ok, well I have had 2 PM's with the correct answer. Shannon was the first and Ladysai got it right too. So...

The answer is....

Going to be posted tomorrow! :evil:

[Jon]

Tomorrow, Tomorrow
You're only a day away!!

[Shannon]

Don't you mean "Going to b postd tomorrow!"?

[stroppygoblin]

Don't you mean "Going to b postd tomorrow!"?

:) No I should have actually said "Going to post it tomorrow"

Ok folks here is the actual answer:
The letter 'e' is the most commonly used letter in the English language (that last sentence alone used it 11 times!) What is unusual about the prose above is that it contains NO letter 'E's at all.

Oh and the cryptic clue about Stebbins? He is obviously a fan of The Great Gatsby, which is where I found the original piece of text from. I just modified it to have a DT theme and make it less "Googleable"


Well done again to Shannon and LadySai who both answered correctly.

[Jon]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet me Stroppy!