daft girlfriend

[dave2222]

just told my girlfriend a couple is two and a few is three can someone please confirm this for her as she thinks there both a couple

[naz_nomad]

She could be right ...sorry

a few = A small number of persons or things.

a couple = Two items of the same kind; a pair.


so a couple COULD be a few ... I can see choccies & flowers on the menu

[curiosity]

Well Dave I always see a few as three or more, never two, that's a couple.

[curiosity]

To add to that depending on the tone of voice when a few is said, e.g "there's a few going" in response to how many are going on the christmas do? means to us probably over half of the staff team.

[joko]

few is non specific, but couple is two, although its not set in stone or to be taken so literally, both can be used to just mean a small amount from 2 to 5

[Quizmonster]

I think this may be a dialect thing. In Scotland, if someone says, "Can I borrow a couple of matches?" he certainly does not mean literally 'two'. Similarly, someone who claims he had a 'couple' of beers the previous evening, generally means several/a few, as Joko suggests.
Is the lady from north of the border by any chance, Dave? (This usage may exist in other parts of the UK as well, of course. I don't know.)

[JulieB123]

I say a couple is two and a few is three, any more than that is a lot, as in a few too many they had three more than they should have.

[heathfield]

So ask her what it means when they say, " The couple spent their honeymoon in Paris". What? All three of them???

To add to the confusion...

In Barbados, traditionally, a couple is four!

One hound is 'half a couple'

[jno]

a couple is always two to me so I'd probably embarrass myself in front of Quizmonster by giving him only two matches... And a couple also means two people, but generally only if they're romantically linked, otherwise they're just two people... But a few can be any number; if you invite 50 people and only 10 turn up, that's still 'a few'.

[RATTER15]

A couple is 2. a few, is just not very many

[A Chill Wind]

I'll come back to this in a couple of minutes.

[tictactoe]

A couple is two

A few is 3 or more

Several is 7 or more

[brionon]

Ask her what,''There both the same'' means. Is it like ''There,there''?

[WoWo]

The way I see it is a couple is a non commital two, i.e. could be two but could be more and a few is any low number over one, but generally not two as a couple would then be more appropriate.

The whole point of both are non commital number so a definate number cannot be assigned IMO.

[frenchfriar]

'round here, we use them this way...
"a" means at least one, ie: give me a cigarette means give me one, at the very least...
"a couple" means two, whereas "a couple of" means at least two, similar to "a", above.
"few" means a small number, generally three to five, but "a few" seems to increase a little, and "quite a few" means a large number
"several" usually means a large number, but is also used in a way that means any divisible number.
"a lot" always means a large number.

in my experience, people associate "several" with "seven", because of the coincidental spelling.