How man y is a couple?

[repsac]

Yesterday, I was at a convenience store. While buying some lottery tickes a friend of mine asked me how many lotto tickets. This is the exact conversation that happened.


Cashier: How many tickets you want?
Me: Oh just a couple.
Cashier: How many is a couple?
Me: Huh? Four.
Cashier: Four? That's not a couple...that's an orgy.

[scruff]

well, four is two couples, sounds reasonble to me.

[Rapscallion]

I've always known a couple to mean two, but I found out a while back that it can mean a few. I think it's a regional thing.

Rapscallion

[kerrisan]

"A couple" means two to me too.

You're brave using an ambiguous term to order a certain amount of something!

[Boozy]

I've always known a couple to mean two, but I found out a while back that it can mean a few.

"A few" is still two, to me. But everyone tells me it means three or four. I also use "a couple" to indicate two.

How do I refer to three or four, you ask? Its an ongoing problem for me.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Technically speaking, a "couple" is two, but it is often used in a more vague way. If it is something that you are paying for, it would make more sense to use an actual number. If I'm asking for extra pats of butter in a restaurant, I might say a couple and not be surprised if I got 2 or 3 or 4...

But then, I'm pretty sure we've done this thread before

[Bright_Star]

I said to a friend who's from the south that I'd get back to her in a couple of days. She said.."Oh you mean TWO days?" I said..."NO,a couple of days". She said..."Yeah, TWO days!" I said..."NO, a few days!" She said..."You just said a couple of days!" I said..."Yeah, a couple of days". She said..."So I'll see you in 2 days then?" I said..NO!! a few days! She said..You said blah blah blah!"
That went on for 30 minutes before she understood what I meant. To me, when I say a couple of days I mean more than 2. Now when you have a couple as in a married couple then THAT means TWO.
I know it's confusing...lol.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Cashier: How many tickets you want?
Me: Oh just a couple.
Cashier: How many is a couple?
Me: Huh? Four.
Cashier: Four? That's not a couple...that's an orgy.

I am so stealing that, the next time somebody interprets "a couple" to be three or more.

[Seshat]

I hit dictionary.com to find out if there's a definitive answer to this. Locally, 'couple' is two, and 'few' is more than one, but not many. Probably up to about five or six.

Dictionary.com's couple.

And few

It looks like 'couple' is most commonly two, but the American Heritage dictionary says that it can be synonymous with 'few' in certain regions. 'few' looks like it's always 'a small number, but more than one'.

[Retail Associate]

...I'm pretty sure we've done this thread before

Yeah, at least a couple times!

.

[Broomjockey]

But then, I'm pretty sure we've done this thread before

Yeah, at least a couple times!

Right down to the dictionary.com link

[Sliceanddice]

couple means two or three to me...

[GingerBiscuit]

couple, for me, is 2-3. few is 3-5, many is 5-8, lots depends on what I'm referring too. Lots of people is 20 or more. lots of stuff while shopping is 8 of one item or more.

I'd say four isn't an orgy personally. More than six before it's an orgy

[Record Store Tough Guy]

Down south we also have "couple-three."

Figure that one out.

^_^

[Becks]

To me--

Couple--2
Few--3 or 4
Several--5-8, depending on size, etc.
Lots--a handful of product in question

Cashier: How many is a couple?
Me: Huh? Four.
Cashier: Four? That's not a couple...that's an orgy.

I'm so stealing that!!!!!