# English/American speech **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089 "2007-04-14T12:08:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/21 "2007-04-14T21:07:28Z")
So many people slamming “a couple things” as careless? It strikes me as completely natural, both in speech and writing; I’m thoroughly accustomed to utterances like “I’ll be back in a second. I just have to go to the grocery store and pick up a couple things”. Until reading this thread, I didn’t even realize there were people who felt otherwise. But people are notoriously unaware of their own speech patterns. I should note I also find “a couple of things” completely natural as well. I imagine they’re in free variation in my own speech. (I’m an American, with my speech generally reflecting my formative years in the suburbs of north New Jersey, and my writing generally reflecting my speech, though, of course, I have various idiosyncrasies in both areas) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/22 "2007-04-14T21:10:38Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] I would never say “a couple things.” Anyone who does is simply choosing to sound uneducated. [/QUOTE] hmmm - I’d be careful with that blanket comment. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > [Is there really such a thing as a flea circus?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_006a.html) > > So OK, you got me on **a couple things**. But can the excitable boy shtick, eh? Here, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: > > I’ve done a lot worse. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > [What’s the best way to kill cockroaches?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_019.html) > > The drawbacks are that the bombs are expensive, you have to stay with friends for **a couple days** , and after you move back in you have to swab poison off every exposed surface. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > [I nuked a roach](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_025.html) > > Your basic member of the Blattidae (cockroach) family goes into a heat stupor at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit and expires **a couple degrees** above that. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > [No stoplights on the freeway, so why do cars stop?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_028b.html) > > At this critical juncture, drivers are jumpy, and they’ll slam on the brakes at the slightest provocation–anything from an accident or a stall to **a couple extra cars** trying to merge into traffic at an on-ramp. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > [Can rats swim up through the (urk) toilet?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_029.html) > > Light **a couple candles** and put on some Mantovani (rats are suckers for cheap romance). There’s several more if you do a search of “couple” on Cecil’s columns. In fact, I have a vague recollection of a thread some years ago asking why the Perfect Master used this construction. I think the Teeming Millions concluded that it was an example of a regionalism within the US accent. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/23 "2007-04-14T22:09:33Z")
I have a couple things to say about this! First of all, I certainly do say “a couple things,” and it is not because the “of” was elided (thought that may happen, too.) Secondly, I most certainly don’t do it to sound uneducated. I usually get the opposite criticism–I even pronounce the _g_ at the end of present participles habitually. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/24 "2007-04-14T22:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] hmmm - I’d be careful with that blanket comment. [/quote] Frankly, every time I read Cecil dropping the “of”, I found it a bit jarring. Must be a Chicaguh thing. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/25 "2007-04-14T22:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Alan Smithee] I even pronounce the _g_ at the end of present participles habitually. [/QUOTE] Do you mean that you actually pronounce a ‘g’ sound (as in “**[g](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive)lass") at the end of words like “eating”, or do you just mean that you use the special ‘n’ sound from "si[n](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velar_nasal)k" rather than the ‘n’ sound from "si[n](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_nasal)**”? Since you singled out present participles, I suspect the latter. I also suspect the latter because the former is, to my knowledge, [highly unusual](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants#Ng-coalescence) among modern English accents, though I’m told it can be found in parts of northern England and around Long Island. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/26 "2007-04-15T00:45:15Z")
[Here is what Merriam-Webster Online](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/couple) has to say about it: > [@](#): > > Main Entry: couple > Function: adjective > : TWO; also : FEW – used with a \ > usage The adjective use of a couple, without of, has been called nonstandard, but it is not. In both British and American English it is standard before a word (as more or less) indicating degree \. Its use before an ordinary plural noun is an Americanism, common in speech and in writing that is not meant to be formal or elevated \ \. It is most frequently used with periods of time \ and numbers \ \. So we can see that my comment should perhaps be tempered. It is used when the speaker chooses to sound less “formal” or “elevated.” In my own personal opinion, that’s pretty equivalent to most speech patterns utilized by less educated people. Just IMHO. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/27 "2007-04-15T02:32:52Z")
OK. On to \*could care less \* and \*couldn’t care less \* 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/28 "2007-04-15T02:45:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Frankly, every time I read Cecil dropping the “of”, I found it a bit jarring. Must be a Chicaguh thing. [/QUOTE] Cecil’s language always looks a little unusual to me. I suspect he chooses certain words and phrases simply because of their coolness factor. For example, he uses some British English instead of American; he’ll write ‘arse’ instead of ‘ass’. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/29 "2007-04-15T05:42:29Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Do you mean that you actually pronounce a ‘g’ sound (as in “**[g](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive)lass") at the end of words like “eating”, or do you just mean that you use the special ‘n’ sound from "si[n](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velar_nasal)k" rather than the ‘n’ sound from "si[n](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_nasal)**”? Since you singled out present participles, I suspect the latter. I also suspect the latter because the former is, to my knowledge, [highly unusual](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonants#Ng-coalescence) among modern English accents, though I’m told it can be found in parts of northern England and around Long Island. [/QUOTE] The latter. I don’t do it all the time, but more often than most people. I _never_ use the Lon Guyland pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/30 "2007-04-15T10:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=MrFloppy] OK. On to \*could care less \* and \*couldn’t care less \* 🙂 [/QUOTE] Hurrah, I finally get the excuse to unveil the [Caring Continuum](http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/elgs/care-less.png). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089/31 "2007-04-15T11:23:44Z")
I’m American, and I’ve never heard “couple things.” I’ve heard “A couple things” on the odd occasion, as in "“I’d like to go over a couple things.” If anything, dropping the indefinite article seems to be British usage. Brits here will say – and write – “That was bit of a bother,” instead of “That was a bit of a bother.” I first noticed this in the writings of local British author Roger Crutchley, who is also the Sports Editor at the the _Bangkok Post_. Then I started picking up on it in other British writings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-american-speech/400089.md?page=1)