um.... I was using an absurd example to illustrate you two guys arguing semantics for 4 or 5 pages now.
Sorry you missed that. I thought it was pretty obvious.
"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" (alternatively "How many
angels can stand on the point of a
pin?")
is a
reductio ad absurdum challenge to medieval
scholasticism in general, and its
angelology in particular, as represented by figures such as
Duns Scotus and
Thomas Aquinas.
It is first recorded in the 17th century, in the context of
Protestant apologetics. It also has been linked to the
fall of Constantinople, with the
imagery of scholars debating while the Turks besieged the city.
In modern usage, the term has lost its theological context and is used as a metaphor for wasting time debating topics of no practical value, or questions whose answers hold no intellectual consequence, while more urgent concerns accumulate.
"The actual quotation is, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”. It was a criticism of theologians who spent their efforts arguing about inconsequential and ridiculous things instead of advancing our knowledge of God. It is used now to say that someone is arguing about trivialities. "