A few is three

[WindyWends]

(Lighthearted)

DH and I can't agree that:

'A couple of times' is two
A 'few' is three
And several is 4+ times.

So, I go to the shop a couple of times a week (twice) I run a few times a week (three sessions) and gym 4+ times a week (so I go several times).

DH thinks a few means two or three and several times means like 10+ times a week. Who's right?!

For some reason I've always followed your rules op. Couple = 2, few = 3. That's if I'm speaking about something that's kinda accurate i.e would you get me a few tins of sweetcorn from the shop I would expect 3 (couple I'd expect 2). I agree though that in a context where accuracy isn't important it could mean something else (give me a few minutes doesn't necessarily mean exactly 3, just that it won't be loads).

Context is so important, and I think a lot of these words are used idiosyncratically so the speaker’s intended meaning might not be the same as the listener’s interpretation!

From my perspective:

A couple is obviously two, and if you’ve met ‘a nice couple’, everyone knows that means two people who are in a relationship together. But it can be more vague. If I say ‘I’ve met him a couple of times’, it might mean two but it could be 3 or even 4 at a push.

A few is more than 2 but probably no more than about 5 or 6. Several would have some overlap with few but might go higher. So perhaps 4 up to about 8 or 10. Anything over that would be lots or loads.

A "few" means a small number of, so could mean almost any number given the context.

A couple is definitely two. A few could be three, for example if I said I went somewhere a few times a week, then I would probably mean three times. But if the population of whatever is larger, like if I said “a few people in the UK” do [such a thing], then I doubt I would mean three.

Few = definitely 3 here too OP! Got it from my parents.

Me too!! A couple is 2 and a few is 3. It's what I've always thought.

3 is the absolute lower limit of 'few' IMO. It's more like 4-6 in weeks/months, but can be more in people. I've often been confused on here by people talking about 'a few years' and clearly meaning 2.

There's a substantial overlap between 'few' and 'several'.

A 'couple ' can be 2 or 3.
It's not literal in that sense.

A couple - 2

A few - 3/4

A handful - 5-10

Loads - 10-50

Anything over 50 is hundreds 🤣

All these words are approximate so they don’t refer to specific numbers.
A couple means about 2 (unless talking about people in a relationship, of course). If the number was definitely 2, you’d say 2, surely, so a couple means not sure exactly but 2 or 3, possibly 4.
A few as has been mentioned above means ‘not many’. It could be 3 or 4 but it depends on context and proportion - ‘there’s only a few left’ could mean various numbers depending on what was there originally. Packet of biscuits - 3 or 4. Limited edition item for sale online - if there had been eg 100 available I would guess they were down to less than 20. The Few at the Battle of Britain, referred to in a PP, were around 3000 but were comparatively few compared to the number of people they were protecting (“never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”).
Where ‘few’ indicates a lack of something, ‘several’ indicates the opposite and implies adequacy or even plenty, but still not a specific number.

Even a couple can be vague, according to context. "I'll be a couple of minutes" doesn't mean "I'll be 120-179 seconds".

A few is a relatively small number.

Several is a significant number. That's even more confusing because it could mean a lot or it could just mean enough to notice.

A couple is two (occasionally used to mean "roughly two but I can't remember or want to be cagey" so could mean 3 or 4,) but strictly speaking, it means two.

The others aren't exact numbers.

I’m a teacher and once asked a seven year old to write “a couple more sentences” (hoping he would then just regain his momentum and keep going). This boy, who spoke English as his third language, looked me dead in the eye and said “a couple means two”. He solemnly added two sentences and put his pencil down - I couldn’t argue with that 😂.

In that case there's no uncertainty, you are wrong but who cares enough to argue about? 😁

A couple is two, a few can be anything more than one, but is a small number.

I would infer 3+ from 'a few' but it would not stand up in a court IMO as it is open to interpretation.

They're also used for context and politeness.

"A couple of biscuits left" could mean two or three, but to generally mean certainly not enough for a whole group (if the group is say 5 people, "a few biscuits left" could conceivably sound like it would serve them all).

"Only a few job applicants" could mean two if you didn't want to give out a precise figure of how many applied (especially if it's only two).

A couple is always 2 in absolutely every context, same as the word pair.

To me a couple and a few are the same. Just more than 1 but less than like... 100

@hotdiggetydog i agree that couple is always two.

except when answering the question “how many drinks / biscuits / sweets have you had” when “a couple” can mean more than two 😂

A couple is two but few / several are non-specific terms and subjective.
If you want to convey a specific amount and avoid confusion then use that number!

A couple is always 2 - I cannot think about it being anything else!! That people think it sometimes applies to 3 has blown my mind...

A few is 3+

Several I would think 5+

Some could be anything!

no

A couple is 2, a few is 3 - 4 and several is 5+ in my mind.

A couple is definitely 2, and generally a few refers to 3 but has the flexibility to be more but not a lot more. Several could mean the same number, but in a different context. So 'I has to ask several times' to me says you asked more than you feel you should have and 'I had to ask a few times' is i asked more than once but its not a big deal.
Several people sounds like more than a few people.

A couple of weeks could mean 13 days or 15 days. More or less two.
Is your husband French? Or speaks English as a second language ? French ´plusieurs’ means 2 or more which always feels wrong to me because 2 =/= several.

All these words are contextual, and therefore there's a degree of vagueness to them. 'A couple' usually means 2 or about 2, and you use it when you either don't know exactly how many or want to be deliberately vague.

If I said 'Get a couple of tins of tomatoes' I would expect 2 or 3, because if I had definitely wanted 2 I would have said 2.

If I go to the pub with a large group of people, and I say later 'We had a couple of drinks', I don't mean that every one of the group had exactly 2 drinks - I mean that most of us probably had 2 drinks (and most likely I did), but some people might have only had 1 and some might have had 3 or more.

If I say I've met someone 'a couple of times' and if that's over a lifetime, then I know that I've met them more than once and probably fewer than 5 or so times, but I don't know exactly how many.

'Few' is always more than 2, but as others have said, it implies scarcity or not much of what there is or was. 'A few biscuits left' - if you started with 100, it might be as many as 10, but if you had 10 originally, probably 3 or 4.

'Several' is more than 'a few' if talking about small numbers, but actually could be fewer than 'a few' if you're talking about large groups ie 'a few of the million refugees' could be as many as 1000, and is more than 'several' which is generally under 100.