a couple of questions

[rone]

[Poll #786659]

Comments

[anavolena.livejournal.com]

i tend to use it as a place holder when i'm not sure how many points i'm going to make:

"that makes me think of a couple of things. first, blah blah blah"

[nothings.livejournal.com]

I think I say "a couple things" and write (even in chat contexts) "a couple of things". I might actually say "a couple o' things" (in the schwa sense).

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned, a couple means two, and a few means three, or possibly four. More than that is a lot of things.

[marknau.livejournal.com]

My cutoff between "few" and "several" is a fuzzy area between 4 and 6.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

Yes, several would be next.

[marknau.livejournal.com]

When I ask for "a couple of X," and then get asked "how many?", it makes me want to kill kill KILL KILL KILL. But now I know who to blame. The people who use "couple" to mean "indeterminate amount" have killed the usefulness of the word. That's what "few" is for, folks.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you.

[omarius.livejournal.com]

I'm one that will use it loosely sometimes--but if I am placing an order, I consistantly use it litterally.

[lusercop.livejournal.com]

What I often find, in speech, is that I'll say a "couple", because I've got 2 things in mind, then as I say it, I think of a third one.

I agree that it is correct for a couple to mean "two", but then there is also a difference between saying "two things:..." and "a couple of things:...", so....

[2wanda.livejournal.com]

I say "a couple a things". A couple is two, so yeah, it always means two. I say "a few things" for three or so.

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

Ron - You're talking about two separate things here - (1) a [can't remember the word] of speech and (2) a number.

1) "A couple of things" is an introductory phrase, usually a somewhat argumentative one, followed by any number of items or points the speaker wishes to bring up as a counterpoint to what you said, or to debate your points or statement. One may as well say "Hold on there, Sparky" instead of "A couple of things..."

2) "A couple of things" is a response to: "How many things do you want to put in my satchel?" It means: two.

[sorry about the hole in my memory. my brain is shot tonight.]

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Well, i should have probably picked a more generic term, or a metasyntactic device. I didn't mean "a couple of things" specifically, but "a couple of [noun]s".

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

Oh. I see. Well, pardon me for responding to what you actually SAID. Bwahahahaha.

Well pffffftttt.

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean "a couple of things" specifically, but "a couple of [noun]s".

Do-over!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

So do it over (http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=786659&mode=enter)!

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

Alrightythen!

[pvaneynd]

French is worse: 17 means "any random number". Italian uses 2. If zoutke asks me for "2 spoons" it might be 2, 3 or 150.

Not my favorite feature of those languages. In dutch we use "een aantal" "a number of" for a vague amount.

[marknau.livejournal.com]

Oh no. 2 seems like a catastrophic number to use for an arbitrary amount. I can just imagine all the inefficient "do you mean two really two?" conversations happening all the time.

Per capita GDP:
ITA 27700
FRA 28700
NED 29500

More efficient language makes everyone better off!
QED.

Seventeen!

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

Is that the origin of the Humbug (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3667/is_199510/ai_n8724858)'s exclamation? I never knew.

[mezdeathhead.livejournal.com]

Thanks again for pointing out my talkin' flaws. I didn't even realize that I did that, jerk. NOW I'M SELF CONSCIOUS

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

H0 H0 H0 my work here is done!

"It depends"

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

is much more vague-sounding than my real answer: It depends strictly on which one I say. "A couple things" is exactly two. "A couple of things" may be exactly two, or may be up to four.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

You are a huge weirdo.

We knew that.

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

But[t] cracks about my weight are not pertinent here.

I meant to add that this distinction was the general consensus among the language geeks (information developers and otherwise) who used to discuss such matters online at My Big Imployer back before they all got laid off. Probably no more than half confessed to using the noun loosely themselves, but everyone recognized the use as common, and almost all understood the adjective to mean strictly two.

According to my guide . . .

[divisadero.livejournal.com]

Bryan Garner (Garner's Modern American Usage) has half a page on this issue. In the end, he suggests that either usage works depending on whether "couple" is acting as an adjective that modifies "people" or a noun itself (in which case it would require the preposition "of" to link to another noun).

As for whether it denotes exactly two or possibly more or less depends on the usage. For example, a recipe that called for a "couple sprigs of rosemary" is probably not calling for exactly two sprigs but about that amount. Still, "couple" traditionally denotes a pair, just as the verb form denotes the joining of two things.

Okay, I think I've reached nerdiness quota for the day.