How many is a couple? Two, I’d say. Right? Like we talk of “a couple”. But what about having “a couple of beers”? Well, that’s no good because, for me, “a couple of beers” got me enrolled into a fellowship of other people who have a need to never say that again. Apparently in Latin, the root word just means to bind together. It took time to get it down to two. For those of us in this special club I joined, we are ancient, classical.

What about a few. I feel like it’s three, but I can totally see like 4 or maybe 5. Mayyybe five… The bots say 3-5, how about you?

And how many is several? I want to lean in to about seven, but I think that’s just because the word sounds like it’s going there. But if a couple is 2 (and maybe we permit 3, but probably not for relationships, although that’s around enough to have a name - and maybe that is why a couple of the bots said 2-3), and a few is 3-5, several must be, like, 5-7. That’s roughly what I think.

Why have words that we can only sort of agree on? Because being specific is sometimes impossible. Other times it would be obnoxious. And other times still, what would be bothersome is taking the time to really get a description right. Some version of the benefit outweighing the cost must be the reason, even if it would be worth it for everyone else besides the speaker.

I will find a way to fix this problem someday down the road.