Couple, Few, Some, Many

[Catt57]

Depends on where you are.

 

[HoLeChit]

It’s all highly dependent on the situation for me.

A couple eggs= 3
A couple guys= 2-3
A couple= 2 people.

A few= usually 3.
But a few gallons typically means whatever you need to get the job done. A few gallons in my truck means enough to get me where I am going and then back to my favorite gas station.
A few gallons when I was a field mechanic was enough to get me to the next job. A few gallons could also means enough to not worry about getting air in the fuel system of my 40 ton excavator, or 30ish gallons.

Some= varies widely.
Some guy= one guy
Some berries/bolts/screws/welding rods/paper towels= same as a handful.

Many people= whoever is in the room.
I don’t use many very often.

Handful= what you can fit in your hand. A handful of guys can be as few as 3, but no more than 5. A couple beers could mean two buckets. Or 3 longneck bottles. A handful of waters could be three gallon jugs.

A big handful means you better drop a few on the trip back.

All of these could change unexpectedly, as I can be moderately sarcastic and I also have a tendency to over or under estimate just about everything. When I tripped over a piece of extruded metal and cut a jagged 4” long by 1/2” deep cut in my ankle, bleeding enough to get light headed, I walked into the ER with a towel taped to my leg and said “I may have cut myself a little”.

 

[CHenry]

Do you use these words interchangably with their supposed numerical value?

Couple = 2
Few = 3
Some = 4? 5?
Many = ??? (what is the lower limit for many? Is it more than 5?)

"I ate a couple of eggs this morning" - So you ate 2? Or maybe you actually ate 3?

"I need to put a few gallons of gas in the tank" - How many exactly?

A few gal of gas? Where you driving to, pump 9?
LMAO