English doubt

[taxman]

When you say, for example "I made this a couple of years ago", do you mean two (couple) years ago, or some years ago.
I´ve seen translated both ways, so I´d like to know wich one is the correct.
Thank you.

[Sgt.McCartney]

Well, for me, I say a couple of years/months ago that usually translates for me as I can't determine when it was actually made but, I know it was in months, and by that it means "some." But, when I know for sure it was made 2 years/months ago I say "a couple of months ago." Or sometimes "several months" when I know for sure it was made over 2 years ago. Did that make any sense?

[Johnna Lynn]

Originally Posted By taxman:
When you say, for example "I made this a couple of years ago", do you mean two (couple) years ago, or some years ago.
I´ve seen translated both ways, so I´d like to know wich one is the correct.
Thank you.<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">Merrian-Webster OnLine (http://www.m-w.com/home.htm) Everything you ever wanted to know about words!!! I use it alot.

[lennon4]

I'm with Sarge on this one. Unless I know exactly when something was made and/or happened, I'll use 'couple' as a general term, not specific.

-lennon4

[SgtPepper2107]

I used to use 'couple' as a few but because of my dad it now translates to me as 2.

[Clark Kent]

Couple in its truest sense means 2 but it also used as a general term.

[lennonluvr9]

For me it can mean either 2 or some. Usually I mean it to be some. I remember in third grade though that a kid told me that couple meant 3....

[HeyBeatle]

I think it has something to do with where you're from. I go farther north for school and when I say a couple I mean a few, if I mean two I will say "Will you hand me two napkins" Most all of my friends that are natively from the north say a couple and mean two, and when I say a couple they will hand me two of what I ask for instead of maybe four or five which was around what I was expecting. But that is just my experience in the US on the east coast so I have no clue, when I lived in other parts of the US and out of the country I never paid that much attention to it.

[Rellevart]

Literally, it's two, but I think most people use it to mean "a non-specific small number". Although my grandmother used to use the phrase "couple three" ("Give me a couple three napkins", to use HeyBeatle's example) when she meant a few. Don't know how widespread that was though.

[Paolo Meccano]

Hello everyone, graemlins/wave1.gif *

Spoking as somewhat who is effluent in the 'inglish, 'a couple' means two and 'a few' means more than 'a couple'.