It's not even a consistently American thing. I (from Texas) use "couple" to mean two-ish-or-more whereas my wife (from New Mexico) uses couple to mean exactly

It's not even a consistently American thing. I (from Texas) use "couple" to mean two-ish-or-more whereas my wife (from New Mexico) uses couple to mean exactly two. I use "couple" to (roughly) mean "just enough in small amounts" like: - just a couple more minutes (obviously doesn't mean 2 minutes and 0 seconds) - grab a couple of glasses (probably two unless there are three people) - buy a couple of things (I'm making a short trip for a small number of things) For those decrying using imprecise language, it's because these are scenarios where enumerating would give an incorrect level of precision.