Editing Talk:1070: Words for Small Sets

I disagree on "A Handful" and "Several".  A Handful should be about 4 to 7 and several should be 6 to 8, averaging about 7, which sounds just like several.  The other two are within the range that makes sense to me.  Also, check out how he sneaks "a couple of friends" and "all three of them" into the image text very sneakily. [[User:Jeff]] - From the blog
:Dude, that's the point. You've been trolled. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 11:43, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
:Several means 12 because I have always understood it to mean 12. I seem to be in a population of 1 though. I wonder how many times I've confused other people or been confused without being able to put my finger on why because of this... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.158|108.162.250.158]] 00:42, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Several is two or more.

A handful to me is just that. A dozen berries, one hand grenade, 2-3 sticks of TNT, a bird (2 in a bush else where gives 3) or a wild blonde (more than 1 way to be a handful I guess). [[User:DruidDriver|DruidDriver]] ([[User talk:DruidDriver|talk]]) 07:09, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

English isn't my natural language, but how common is the word "acrimonious"? Should it be explained? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.56|108.162.254.56]] 03:40, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
:Online dictionaries should help. I'm using some addons to my Firefox to help me. The simplest meaning for "acrimonious" should be "bitter", but this is still one of those words hard to describe. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:56, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

I'm inclined to interpret the hover text as him saying that a couple does mean more than two. A couple of friends, and then all three of them. However, the entry does not agree with me. Thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.28|173.245.52.28]] 09:10, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
: My guess is that the entry interpreted "all three of them agree" as "your couple of friends agree with you". I think Randell would sooner troll than use inconsistent grammar so, I also think Randell was using couple to mean 3 friends. [[User:Who PhD|Who PhD]] ([[User talk:Who PhD|talk]]) 13:58, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

There is a similar ambiguity in German, where "ein paar", which literally means "a couple", is used to say "a few". In Italian the ambiguity is even stronger, as certain regions tend to use "un paio" only in the literal sense, while others mean it figuratively. A friend of mine came from Tuscany to Sardinia and one day told me: "I asked for a couple of cigarette packs, and the clerk said ok, how many? and I said, a couple, and he answered yes, how many precisely, and I had to say, uh, two? What an idiot". I had to explain to her that where I live it was not THAT straightforward that couple == 2 --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.31|108.162.229.31]] 08:01, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

This question has been settled before. A few = 1—4, several = 5—9, a pack = 10—19, a lot = 20—49, …  --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.192|141.101.105.192]] 13:14, 25 December 2014 (UTC)

How much/many is/are a cupfull?[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 19:30, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

[Yoseph] -  all those words change based on context, for example: A handful of ants(that would probably reffer to something like 60 ants), but a handfull of crackers(would be like 12 crackers), and a handful of batteries(would be something like 6). and so goes for couple(a couple of cars[thats like 2], but a couple weeks ago[thats like 2-3]). {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.56}}

"Several" means 4 to 7. A couple means 1, 2, or 3. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.140|173.245.50.140]] 01:08, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

The answer to the spacing one is, of course, "one."[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 18:59, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I have to take the bait. "A few" literally means three, "A couple" literally means two. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.20}}

a handful is 4-6 several is 7-11 dozen is 12 {{unsigned|Sci0927|14:55, 20 December 2021}}

"a couple" in the title may also refer to monogamous relationships. Maybe as a hint that you should think about the other person and not just yourself (a couple is not one). Or in the other way, that faithfulness is important (a couple is no more than two). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.240|141.101.107.240]] 15:59, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

I just came here because I was going to use this as an expanded citation for the comic itself, which I was going to use as reference for a non-native speaker about the meaning of "a couple", however, I will not be doing so because the explanation here focuses WAY too much on some perceived trolling ulterior motive of the strip, which I think is just a red herring. Whoever wrote the explanation clearly disagreed with Randall, and assumed that therefor Randall must be itching for a fight with this strip. I, on the other hand, see it as a purely benign strip, usefully pointing out a difference in interpretation that not everyone may be aware of (today you are one of the lucky 10,000): not everyone understands and uses "a couple" to mean "exactly two". And the fact that people have different understandings of the term can lead to misunderstandings, because it is so obvious that "a couple" can ONLY mean [what your native understanding of it is], such that you even think anyone who uses it differently must be deliberately trying to provoke you. They're not. There are real differences in the perception of "a couple" among native speakers of English; Randall is among those (like me) who understand "a couple" to mean imprecisely "about two", which can mean as many as five(ish). We don't hold this understanding to provoke those who understand "a couple" to mean "exactly two". Pointing out that we understand "a couple" to mean "2-5" is not "trolling". It is legitimately how we understand (and use) the term. If you don't think that "a couple" can mean "3", it is not trolling to point out that others disagree with you; it is, in fact, educational and useful (today you are one of the lucky 10,000). So, except for the alt-text, where he does deliberately joke about it in the context of talking about how polemical it can be, this strip is NOT an attempt at trolling. If you feel triggered by it, that probably says more about you and where you fall on the interpretation of "a couple" spectrum.{{unsigned ip|173.245.52.187|15:28, 10 October 2020}}

A couple means 10 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.233|172.70.38.233]] 09:33, 1 August 2023 (UTC)