Further Dispatches from Standards and Measures

[featherynscale]

It's official. Per JJ, my co-worker, the following standards of counting apply:

1 of something is "one"
2 or 3 are "a couple"
4 or 5 are "several"
and more than 5 are "numerous".

Please implement as soon as possible.

Comments

[capriciouslass.livejournal.com]

But we also need definitions for 'a few', 'many', and 'quite a few'...

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

We're working on that. We'll have the information out to you as soon as we're done testing it.

Standard American Drewisms

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

2 = couple
3 = few
4 = several
5 = many
5-10 = numerous
10+ = a lot

quite a ( ) = x2 e.g. "quite a few" = 6, "quite a lot" = 20+

Re: Standard American Drewisms

[teross50.livejournal.com]

Let us not forget the maximums , such as

Boat Load
Belly Full
Going to infinity with
Humungus

Re: Standard American Drewisms

[capriciouslass.livejournal.com]

There's also:

bunches
goat load
metric goat load (apparently larger than a goat load, but I'm not sure by how much)

Sorry, not my area...

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Boatload, goatload, and metric goatload are all measures of volume - that's a different department :)

Re: Sorry, not my area...

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

I believe zylch may have defined these in the past...

Re: Standard American Drewisms

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

How much is enough to choke a horse?

Re: Standard American Drewisms

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

More than a goat load less than whole hog.

see that's not how i measure it...

[kcwitch.livejournal.com]

the ozark way is...
1 of something is "one"
2 is "a couple"
3 or 4 are "a few"
5 or 6 are "a bunch"
and over 6 are "a whole lot".

Re: see that's not how i measure it...

[malvito.livejournal.com]

If Over 6 is "A Whole Lot" in the Ozarks, than whose terminology would classify Over 6 as "A Great Big Bucketload," "A Buttload," or , better,"A Whole F*#%in' Lot?"

Re: see that's not how i measure it...

[kcwitch.livejournal.com]

don't know. we don't curse in the ozarks. LOL!!

[malvito.livejournal.com]

Connie and I used to get into semantic arguements on this subject, since I am of the group for whom "a couple" means More Than One But Not Limited To Two (i.e "a couple" and "a few" are interchangeable unless we are talking about people who are romantically linked, though, in the case of my friends and loved ones, the two terms are still occasionally interchangeable), and she is very much of the opinion that "a couple" means Two And Only Two And There Is No Variation From That Strict Interpretation. Dammit.

I refuse to be bound by mere mortal numerical interpretation.