# Enumerating the innumerable (a Poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 2, 2003, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097 "2003-09-02T07:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/1 "2003-09-02T07:51:55Z")
For the purposes of science, voyeurism and aleviating boredom (although not necessarily in that order :)), kindly tell me, numerically, what numbers the following expressions represent to you:[ul][li] **a couple** - although I suspect only South Africans will vary from the norm here…[_]\*\*a few[_]a handfulseveral[/ul]\*\*All assistance gratefully received…[/li] Grim ---
**Author:** ![dinoboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/2 "2003-09-02T10:52:46Z")
Ok, if it’s for boredom, I mean, science: – A Couple is two. period. (unless you’re in the mafia, “…a couple two, tree guys is alls wez need…”) – A few is three (can be stretched to four or five if I’m ordering or complaining) – A Handful is 6 to 12 items (unless I’m at the grocery in the ‘10 items or less’ line - By the way it should be ‘FEWER’ and that has bugged me for a long time, you’d think a large chain would have someone working for them with knowledge of grammar rules) – Several is more than I can carry in one trip (13+?) (unless… see above) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/3 "2003-09-02T10:58:41Z")
“A couple” to me means “two” period, too. But not in Ireland - this used to happen to me constantly in bars/delis, e.g. Me: A couple of bags of peanuts too, please. Barman: How many? Me: A couple. Barman: Yeah, but how many? Me: Two. A few can be up to seven. A handful is “some”. Several is two “fews”. (I made the last three up). ---
**Author:** ![micilin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@micilin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micilin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/4 "2003-09-02T12:12:28Z")
**jjim** ’s right about Ireland. A couple can be a small ‘few’, never more than three. And there’s three tads in a smidgin. Just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/5 "2003-09-02T12:15:49Z")
**a couple** two to three items **a few** three to six items **a handful** five to six items **several** four to eight or nine-ish items ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/6 "2003-09-02T12:25:12Z")
**a couple-** Two items. Can you also explain why this wouldn’t be the case in South Africa or in Ireland? **a few-** Three to five items **a handful** Five to about a dozen items. **several** Anywhere from about half a dozen to about fifty items or so. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/7 "2003-09-02T12:34:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwc1970 \* > \*\ ***a couple-** Two items. Can you also explain why this wouldn’t be the case in South Africa or in Ireland? \*\* … or Australia, to judge by **Goo** ’s post. I have no idea why this should be the case - it just _is_ - in the same sense that Mt. Everest _is_ and Alma Cogan _isn’t_. Perhaps because there is a perfectly good, shorter word for two items already - why ask for “a couple” when you can say “two”? Grim ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/8 "2003-09-02T12:59:57Z")
**a couple** two **a few** three to five **a handful** five to eight **several** six to a dozen or thirteen ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/9 "2003-09-02T16:02:15Z")
But **grimpixie** a handful is a unit of volume, not a numeric. a handful of coconuts = 1 a handful of peanuts = 20+ **a couple** = 2 (or rarely 3) **a few** = 2 to 5 **several** = 4 to 10 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/10 "2003-09-02T16:16:03Z")
A couple is two—three is a _menage a trois_. The others depend on context. (There are more sunflower seeds than walnuts in a handful, for example, while one squirming baby can be more than a handful.) ---
**Author:** ![MrThompson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MrThompson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrThompson)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/11 "2003-09-02T20:01:52Z")
Blah. It really annoys me when people take the logical route, and have a couple be two. For me its three to five - if you want two, then say so, drat it (or “pair”, “twin”, whatever). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrThompson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MrThompson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrThompson)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/12 "2003-09-02T20:07:08Z")
Blah. It really annoys me when people take the logical route, and have a couple be two. For me its three to five - if you want two, then say so, drat it (or “pair”, “twin”, whatever). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dinoboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dinoboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinoboy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/13 "2003-09-02T21:37:44Z")
Do you ever tell anyone, “you make a lovely couple” and have it directed to more than two people (or less for that matter)? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/14 "2003-09-03T02:10:26Z")
> [@](#): > > • a couple - although I suspect only South Africans will vary from the norm here… and maybe a few US Southerners. Informally “a couple” means “more than one but not very many” where I grew up. > [@](#): > > • a few same as “a couple” except that “a couple” has the formal meaning of “exactly two” and there is no formal meaning for “a few”. > [@](#): > > • a handful One and a half fews 😉 > [@](#): > > • several Might be more than even two handfuls. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/15 "2003-09-03T02:31:56Z")
All I can think of is boobs. Sorry. A couple - a man and a woman or either 2 or three of a thing. a few - between 3 and 5 a handfull - roughly 80-100 (coins) several - between 3 and 7 ---
**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/16 "2003-09-03T02:45:06Z")
**couple** - while I _know_ this means two, in my head it means “eh…two or three. four even.” I have no idea why this is, and it used to perturb my mom. **few** - three to five. a smallish amount. not lots. **handful** - four to ten. and they don’t have to be hand-sized things. but if they are, they should fit roughly in one’s hand. **several** - three to five. ish. what’s with all of you “bigger than a handful” people? ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/17 "2003-09-03T05:12:44Z")
**a couple** - two. Or so. Strictly two if the things are actually coupled. **a few** - roughly 5 to 10% of **a lot**. **a handful** - five-ish for count goods, or roughly 1 or 2% of a lot. **several** - definitely not just one. Used in cases where even one might be a lot. **a lot** - this depends on the thing in question. [I was going to link to “How many would be scary?” but I can’t find it. Wasn’t that the thread title?] ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/18 "2003-09-03T05:19:52Z")
[QUOTE] _Originally posted by grimpixie \* \*\* kindly tell me, numerically, what numbers the following expressions represent to you:[ul][li] **a couple** - although I suspect only South Africans will vary from the norm here…[_]\*\*a few[_]a handful[_]several[/ul]\*\*\*\*[/li][/QUOTE] 2 3 or 4 5 or 6 3 or 4 ~ usually ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/19 "2003-09-04T07:01:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Erika \* > \*\ ***several** - three to five. ish. what’s with all of you “bigger than a handful” people? \*\* Clearly you have bigger hands than most!! 😃 To me, “several” implies “of the order of seven”, i.e. 6-10, while my “handfull” is smaller, around 5-7/8. Grim ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097/20 "2003-09-04T07:59:42Z")
I got into the “several” debate with a friend not long ago. He brought up the difficult-to-counter argument that several means seven because it’s created from the word seven. But I hold steadfastly to my 6th grade English teacher - that sentence-diagramming Nazi - who told us, **in no uncertain terms** , that the definitions are as follows: Couple: Exactly 2 Few: Exactly 3 Several: Exactly 3 Handful: ??? Dunno. She didn’t include handful in that vocabulary sheet. When the inevitable question was raised about why we need two words for exactly 3, she responded with “they are synonyms.” It was the scary, steely-eyed glare with which this edict was accompanied that burned her lessons deep into my brain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enumerating-the-innumerable-a-poll/199097.md?page=2)