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The meaning of several, as reinforced by community usage, to me means "<=10". I may have several points to make, but I feel obliged to tell you specifically if
by heresie-dabord 3y ago
The meaning of several, as reinforced by community usage, to me means "<=10".
I may have several points to make, but I feel obliged to tell you specifically if I have 10 or a dozen or more to make so you can find a chair. ^_^
For >= 10, we have dozen, baker's dozen, score, and 20. This completes the set of conversational units of vague quantities.
- dylan604 3y agoWhat about a bunch?
- irrational 3y agoA bunch of grapes could have many dozens of grapes. Perhaps even a 100 or more.
- Izkata 3y agoThere's a cereal called "Honey Bunches of Oats". Maybe that word can veer off into non-numerical quantities.
- d1sxeyes 3y agoI think I expect all of those to be more or less accurate (for the >= 10 ones). If someone says a dozen, I would expect exactly 12 (especially if it’s something with very strong collocation like “eggs”). If someone says “a baker’s dozen” I would expect exactly 13. If someone says “score”, I’d be surprised, but given how infrequently it’s used, I’d expect the speaker to be using it accurately, not sloppily.