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Comment by samdoidge | Hacker News Reader

*It looks like 'a couple' was correct usage - apologies!

'a couple' = 2, 'a few' would be more accurate :)

Both couple and few can mean either a specific number (2 for couple, 3 for few) or an indeterminate small number. They are synonyms for the second usage.

I hadn't known a couple to mean more than 2, but the Cambridge dictionary does seem to agree[1].. however the Oxford Dictionaries site only seems to indicate only 2[2]. In this case, I'll update my correction ;)

[1](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/couple)

[2](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/couple)

You also instantly knew what the person meant by a couple because this is an extremely common usage. Oxford agrees as well, if you use their US dictionary [1].

[1](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/couple)

In the US, "a couple" is synonymous for a "a few" or "several". One would say, "it'll take a couple of hours" or "I'll be away for a couple of days" and mean two or more. This might be specific to American English.

Where I come from (US) a couple means 2.

You could also have said that where you come from, couple means two people in a romantic relationship. This doesn't mean that it can't also have other definitions. Every US English dictionary I checked has "an indefinite small number" listed as one of the definitions, and that's a much more common usage in my (US) experience than using couple to mean exactly 2.

My interpretation has always been that a couple is approximately two, a few is approximately three, and several is ~5-7.

Several. Or "a bunch". Or "more than a dozen".

Regardless of whether people will use a "couple" to mean an indeterminate small number that may be more than exactly two, it doesn't mean 16 jets, as 16 is a large number of jets to be doing something together, unless one is intentionally understating. How many planes are in the air at a time? "A couple"

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