3 ms·
Reading the comments, it appears that there are folks in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia who understand the use of “couple” as fuzzy. “I’m going to grab a
by christophilus 3y ago
Reading the comments, it appears that there are folks in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia who understand the use of “couple” as fuzzy. “I’m going to grab a couple of things from the garage” means I’m going to grab a few, maybe 1-4 or so things. It also is understood as meaning 2 when talking about a specific request as in, “Give me a couple of beers.”
So, I’m surprised that so many commenters are surprised by the fuzzy usage. I wonder if it’s a regional thing in each country? But then, how does it transcend borders so thoroughly before spreading (mostly) to every region? Language evolution is such a strange thing.
- whynotmaybe 3y agoIn European French, a "couple" means two people/being in love with each other. In Canadian French, a "couple" has the same meaning as in Europe AND also means 2-5 items. So you can say "my neighbor is in a couple with my cousin" and "I'm gonna fetch a couple items at the grocery store". And therefore "I'm gonna tell you a couple things about the couple next door" is perfectly fine in Canadian French but not understood in Europe.
- fancymcpoopoo 3y agodon't be surprised. there's more than a couple of morons online commenting on stuff.