Poll: How many is a few?

[Aeshi]

How many do you consider a few to be?

P.S.What is it with the moronic new site design?I had to highlight the text to see what I was typing into and the breadcrumbs (the forum navigation link at the top) just sort of blur into the background.

 

[HK_01]

Depends. A few usually is 3-5 for me, but a few can be up to 10, too.

 

[syndicated44]

Maybe they are making themes to go along with each weeks article which I think is pretty cool. Now I must ask did you just make this entire thread to complain about the site theme?

OT: I always considered a few to be 3, a couple to be 2, and one is the loneliest number.

 

[GBlair88]

Other: Two is a couple, twelve is a dozen so three to eleven is a few.

Edit: The site seems fine to me.

 

[Nox13last]

A little more than a couple, slightly less than a bunch.

 

[MercurySteam]

A couple is two, so I consider a few to be 3

Why are we talking about this?

 

[sunami88]

I always thought it was meant to be ambiguous. Otherwise you'd have an exact number to quote .


Addendum:
I'm also having the same problem with the new site layout... Disable your adblocker[footnote]I think it's themis-media.com (in my case cdn.themis-media.com) that needs to be unblocked, or at least whitelisted.[/footnote]- not that I would use such a thing!

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[miscelaneous]

I say it depends on the subject.

 

[manythings]

couple = 2
few = 3
several = 4-11
dozen = 12
After that more than a dozen. Never heard anyone say several if they meant 12 or more.

 

[crudus]

Depends. Physical things and abstract concepts are different. Generally "a few" is 3-7 for physical things. For abstract concepts like time...

couple = 2
few = 3
several = 4-11
dozen = 12
After that more than a dozen. Never heard anyone say several if they meant 12 or more.

..."a few minutes" is anywhere between 7-15 minutes to me at least.

 

[BonsaiK]

How many do you consider a few to be?

A few is more than two, generally less than twelve.

several = 4-11

Several does not start at 4. If there were four chocolates in a box I would not say that there were several.

 

[Layz92]

I always thought it was meant to be ambiguous. Otherwise you'd have an exact number to quote .


Addendum:
I'm also having the same problem with the new site layout... Disable your adblocker[footnote]I think it's themis-media.com (in my case cdn.themis-media.com) that needs to be unblocked, or at least whitelisted.[/footnote]- not that I would use such a thing!

I wouldn't refer to having an add blocker if I were you. Wouldn't risk it.

OT: like many have said I would say 3 or more up to about a dozen or so.

 

[Skratt]

A few is 3, but the way I see it, if you mean to say 3 why not just say 3? It's a perfectly good number and doesn't need a language equivalent.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

I'd say about three or four.
Also I consider six - ten to be a bunch.

 

[Fro Angel]

A few to me means like 500 headshots in Call of Duty.


OT: I think its 3-5 because 2 is a couple.

 

[Marter]

I think of it as less than 6, but more than 1.

 

[xDarc]

If there were four chocolates in a box I would not say that there were several.

I would. I wouldn't say there were a few either, because a few is definitively 3 in my book; just like a couple is always 2.

Neat topic.

 

[Valkyrie101]

It could be between 3 and 7, although it really depends on context, unlike several which is always about 6-10.

 

[ZephrC]

A few would be an indefinite number that can vary slightly depending on what you're talking about, but generally is about three. I wouldn't call anybody wrong that used the term a few to describe any number from 2 to about 8ish. 10 is absolutely never a few though.

Next would be several, that would vary in the range of 4 to 12ish. Usually it would refer to about 5 or 6 though.

Past that it gets even more vague. You have "quite a few", or "a bunch", or "a lot". They all basically just mean more than several.

A couple and a dozen are different sorts of things, not fit for comparison because they refer to exact numbers. 2 and 12, respectively of course.