"It has happened a couple of times."
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I think it depends on the object measured.
A handful of sunflower seeds is quite a lot of sunflower seeds.
A handful of onions is 2-3.
A handful of kids is 4-8.
A handful of stars at twilight is between three and 20.
@MCDuncanLab @fedward @futurebird Also the person doing the measuring. For me, even one kid would be a handful.
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@u0421793 Yes, but 'a couple' is sometimes used colloquially to mean 'a few' @futurebird
@lydiaconwell @futurebird that’s literally absurd
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"It has happened a couple of times."
@futurebird "When a couple is too few, a handful will do": old Carpathian Hutsul saying.
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@fedward @futurebird Talking about a few cars, I would mean less than five. If I say “a few M&M” it surely is above five but not a full hand 😁
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@futurebird I remember as a kid some adult in my life trying to insist that a couple means exactly two and a few is three or more, and I was like "why would I ever say 'a couple' if it means two and has more syllables"
@funkula @futurebird Right? I always took it to mean *about* two, on the assumption that if someone wanted *exactly* two of something, they'd just say two. But probably also *at least* two because if they only wanted one, they'd just ask for a thing, not (directly) mentioning a number at all.
Or to go with the original example, they'd say it happened once, or just that it happened. And if they meant exactly two they'd say it happened twice.
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For "It has happened a number of times.", I'm never sure if it's π or the current largest known prime number.
@EricLawton @futurebird
I end up trying to figure out how to explain that one is, itself, a number. Or, identity. Close enough. -
@EricLawton @futurebird
I end up trying to figure out how to explain that one is, itself, a number. Or, identity. Close enough. -
"It has happened a couple of times."
@futurebird my word. Many people seem to mistake a couple for an orgy.
Wow.🙄
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I always took it to mean that the speaker personally knew about it happening exactly two times, but it could be more.
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Teacher: "James! If I have 10 apples in one hand and 4 apples in the other hand, what do I have?"
James: "big hands, Miss" -
@futurebird i recently realised this might be a US/UK thing, in the UK it more often meant 2 (a couple or weeks = 2 weeks) while in the US it often meant a few.
(UK)
If I'm saying *actually* how many times it happened, and I say a couple, I'll usually mean 2.But if it has happened a lot of times or indeed *every damn time* and I'm doing the British understating thing, I might also say a couple of times.
If it's happened a small number of times and I can't recall exactly how many, I'd say a few times rather than a couple.
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@fedward @futurebird
once < couple/few < handful < bunch < many < lots < most@dank @fedward @futurebird, one, two, many, lots.
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@matz in che senso? c'è poca attività?
