Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Is the word "couple" used only for "two" or can it also be used in place of "a few"?

A couple means two.

However with beer the story gets slurred. "We had a couple of beers" means we had at least two and more likely six.

This does not mean that a couple means anything but two, it merely means that the drinkers are lying.

UPDATE:
Some in the comments suggest that since "couple" can be used colloquially to mean more than two (as illustrated above) that perhaps it does mean more than two in some cases. With this I disagree. If we accept the premise that a word means something else just because it is used for hyperbolic or other more subtle purposes, then no means yes, stop means "more please", fine means "I'm on the cusp of vomiting" etc. etc.

The definition of the word and its usages are a complex thing.


Read other related questions on Quora: Read more answers on Quora.

from Quora http://ift.tt/29oAEpY

No comments:

Post a Comment