It was probably an opener for discussion. Assume the best about the interviewer for a minute. What is the best possible interpretation of where they wanted to go with the question?
The fact that the interviewer didn't get the joke and immediately divulged "the answer" makes it hard to assume the best here. If they were really trying to open a dialogue, I'd expect a chuckle and maybe some clarification (like, what _is_ in an inode?)
You may well be right. I'm reading between the lines and could be wrong - but I'd guess the interviewee gave those answers in a frustrated tone. This specific interviewer could have just been a jerk.
There does however seem to be a lot of criticism of FAANG interviews which seems immature.
I'm not 100% certain of this, because I don't know what job they ask a question like that for. It isn't a software engineering interview. However, generally:
The rounds don't build on each other. You have X interviews and the interviewers don't talk to each other and are independent events.
They have gone through phases of having an initial phone screen interview which is a hurdle, but the rest are(/were) as laid out above. There may be exceptions for very senior people, but they are sufficiently rare to exclude.
Google has it's problems to be sure - but by and large the individual people there mean well.
