About the Blog | Comments Policy. 51 – 100 = lots The father of friends of mine arrived home after a long day at work just in time to settle an argument we were having: How many is a few? Regular coffee is coffee with caffeine “regular or decaf?” Black coffee is regular coffee without sugar or cream. I grew up in the Boston, MA area and in that area a few was perhaps seven. 6 = group The argument I’ve always heard is that if 2 and only two was meant with dead certainty, the word “pair”or “two” would have been used. A “couple” was meant to give a vague approximation, rather than a specific number – just like a “few” has a range, as does “several” or “some” or “many”. Couple is certainly fewer than few. It’s two 5’s. Few: A smallish group. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 (414) 288-7090 All Rights Reserved. A couple was 2. How will understanding of attitudes and predisposition enhance teaching? It sounds nuts, and English is nuts. even after you have more, but at some point you’ll have many What is the reflection of the story the mats by francisco arcellana? Four? Had to concede this one to the wife. Then, by a stroke of good fortune we came across your story. Then, by his logic, one could state “I only had a few beers” after consuming more than a case. It’s five. Unless you are at a Starbucks and you order some concoction. The word was quickly applied to pairs, but by the 1500s, it was also being used in the phrase a couple of to refer to an indefinite but still small number of people or things: Some and a group as well as a bunch or many could only be defined in the contest used with a bunch and many considered more. In three previous posts (here, here, and here), I’ve addressed some commonly confused words and how to choose the one that expresses what you really mean. 13 or 14 at a farmers market. Everything else was a specific number. My grade school teacher stated, “When you refer to a lovely couple, there are not three people involved, only two!” t.eske age 60’. We all know a bubbler and not a fountain is the proper term for the fixture or unit, usually in a public area, you get a drink of water from. A few bad apples in a barrel might indicate 10 or 20, but a few bad eggs in a dozen might be two or three. The usage I’ve always known is a couple is probably 2 but could possibly be 3, a few is probably 3 but could possibly 4. Couple: Often used with roughly the same definition as pair, with some specific idioms, such as the happy couple (newlyweds). Several was considered a vague term with 4 to 8 being the accepted meaning. What is the conflict of the story of sinigang? ; ). Marquette University Law School - Contact Us The word is from the Latin copula, which means "bond.". 1 = single 1hour later we had the answer. A small number might mean 3 to some and another number to someone else. While that was not how I interpreted it I understood it if we are only talking about color. Couple first entered English as a noun in the 13th century, where it referred to two people linked in a romantic relationship. Because ten is 10. Interesting read. These have no numerical significance. In particular, that “a few” and “few” are different concepts is a very common question in CSAT. (“I have fewer than you”/”they are few and far between”) It had entries like the ones in this thread, but also things like Many, Most, All (represented as varying percentages), etc. Mean is the same as average. A fountain is a place you throw coins in…. I would never do it, nor do I get it, but between college and hanging out with a large orchestra, the number of ‘couples’ that I later found out were more than 2 is numbering at more than a few. Learn how your comment data is processed. If you add cream/milk it becomes white coffee. A dozen was 12. A couple: Everyone seems to agree that “a couple” means two. The distinction in definitions appear to be related to the specific, region or locality you attended elementary school in. If you have a couple of options, you can safely assume that you will have to choose between A and B, and only A and B. Those same folks would say “with sugar” or “sweet” . They teach it as such in a very deterministic way, and although I’m very much against it, I believe they have a point. 13 of a total of, hmm, 15 to 25 total in the population? Some/Several: Again, there is no hard-and-fast rule here. and keep on saying several Your theory doesn’t hold up. Sometimes, informally, used to mean few. I definitely agree with Lori for the most part (only because some of the names I didn’t grow up with/don’t hear where I live in central Ohio). A “Few” means 3 to 6 What “a few” means to me might be different than what “a few” means to you. Several is 6, 7, 8, or 9. Marquette University Law School, P.O. A couple: Everyone seems to agree that “a couple” means two. As can be observed in some use cases, these words don’t have determined values: rather, they have a dynamic range of tendencies for some English speakers. We reserve the right not to publish comments based on such concerns as redundancy, incivility, untimeliness, poor writing, etc. Examples: What does Couple mean? It is more correct to say, “There were myriad people financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” than saying, “There were *a* myriad *of* people financially affected…”, The formula for remembering the correct usage of “myriad” is simple. With a straight face, he said from three to 26. Or maybe more. That line was probably a lot more clever in the 70s, this upcoming generation is shockingly polyamorous. A few is inbetween so why would we have 3 words that all were to mean the same thing? ‘A few’, ‘Several’ and ‘Some’ are interchangeable and are indeterminate, though they are more than two but are not large amounts. And some, according to the dictionary means “an unspecified amount or number”. (My husband wanted to be a diver in USN. myriad = 10,000 [archaic]; innumerable; a very great number of.

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